The indirect route

A crucial part of management is solid planning.

But of course, reality rarely goes according to plan. Customer needs shift, people get sick, technical challenges arise, machines break, weather changes, … and on and on.

So the challenge becomes how you adapt to this ever-changing path.

I was involved in disaster planning for a while, and it was an interesting exercise. First, you imagine some bad scenarios where everything just falls apart quickly. Think a tornado or flood or COVID-19 shutdown. There’s actually a lot you can do in scenarios like this, whether it’s converting to work-from-home, or bringing in cleanup specialists, or enlisting government assistance.

And it was a very useful exercise. Not that we ever used those plans, but it did help us to identify certain weaknesses that we could address. It changed the way we backed up our computer systems, for instance.

The problem, I suppose, is that these kinds of disasters are quite uncommon. It’s MUCH more likely that you’ll run into the day-to-day issues of scheduling workers, having a crucial machine break, or a supplier who doesn’t deliver on time.

That’s why we have managers. Not necessarily to pick up the slack and fix the problem, but to identify issues, put contingencies in place, and steer the organization to adapt in real time.

So the best management doesn’t just stick to the unwavering plan. It adapts as needed to steer back toward the ultimate success.