Mark's Blog

I’ve heard that most airplane crashes happen in the first two minutes of take-off or the last two minutes in landing!  I’ve also read that the majority of car wrecks happen within two miles of home!  Do you get my drift here?

Finish the written strategic plan strong. You have put so much work into it that you can hardly imagine that you might not finish strong, so let me just point out a few of the traps and make a couple of suggestions for landing the written strategic plan.

Trap #1          Being tired of the process is not the same as finishing!  You have put in so many hours, often weeks and months worth of work, not just in the writing process, but also in the surveying, the analyzing, the focus groups, the drafting, the revisioning processes, that it is just time to deliver this baby!  The temptation is to draw the line today and deliver it to the board . . . . but that’s not finishing. That’s just stopping—and there is a big difference!

Trap #2          The deadline can become more important than finishing well. Should a pilot that is coming in for landing too fast just risk it, or should he pull up and go around again.  Of the many factors that must be considered, getting the passengers to the gate on time is not one of the most important ones when it comes to safety. If you need another day, another week to finish well, ask for it. Most of you are dealing with self-imposed deadlines anyway.

Trap #3          During the revisioning process, someone suggests that you are totally off track and calls for a re-start.  Everyone who writes a dissertation has a story. I had one professor on my committee who was known to leave doctoral students crashed and burning in his wake.  After spending two years researching and writing my dissertation and receiving the tentative approval of my advisor, we submitted it to the committee. It came back from them with high praise—except for The Wrecker, who thought the whole premise was unworthy.  Five days before my defense before the committee who would determine whether the dissertation passed or failed, my advisor suggested that I write one more chapter which he felt would give him enough leverage to withstand the assault of the Wrecker.  I wrote that chapter; we added it to the previous ones and submitted the final version of the dissertation to the committee.  At the defense, the Wrecker arrived 45 minutes late, then acted rudely indifferent to anything happening in the room. When it came his turn to comment, he simply said that he never had believed in the project and he thought it was a poor excuse for a dissertation.  He was the only dissenter when it came time to vote, so I passed.  Don’t let a minority naysayer throw you off course.  If you have gone through the process, sought good input and feedback along the way, and are confident that the plan is good, don’t let the almost inevitable critic derail you.  Finish anyway!

And here are a couple of tips you should follow to finish strong!

Tip #1       Pay attention to formatting and packaging your strategic plan well.  Now I’m really getting picky, but you must now think of the wrapping paper. Don’t stick your gift in a brown paper bag and just pitch it to the recipients.  Wrap it beautifully and appropriately and make the delivery something special.  Specifically, I’m suggesting that you look again carefully at the formatting on the page. Is it organized, divided and subdivided clearly?  Is the organization transparent?  Is the font readable while appropriate for the level of formality?  Do the pagination and page breaks contribute to the ease of reading? Would it be better received in a binder than put together with paper clips?

Tip #2       Deliver it. Believe in it! Nothing is perfect. As soon as you send it out, you are going to find a typo or a phrase that you wish you could rewrite. But as much as you wanted perfection, don’t let its imperfection devastate you or you won’t be able to make others believe in it.

I’ve got two more pieces in this series on strategic planning. Next we will look at getting final agreement for your board or overseers, and then we’ll talk about what to do when the whole process is finally finished.