As we all know, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make predictions and establish medium and long-term plans in companies. To speak of a 10-year plan today is to run the risk of looking like a mildly enlightened person, or even a dangerous lunatic…
Let’s leave out of consideration the major projects that take years and are the subject of 15-20 year planning: this seems to be fairly well accepted and understood by most of the interlocutors and the public: the trans-Alpine railways in Switzerland (NLFA), the planning of districts, the transformation of an airport, etc. are good examples.
Let’s focus on those “medium-sized” projects that require a 8-10 year strategy to have a chance of being presented and validated by the management of a company of a certain size: a construction project, process digitalisation, large-scale outsourcing, a merger or restructuring, etc.
Reading the press, specialist literature or talking to company managers at economic or technical meetings, it seems that the world comes to a standstill every time financial results are published. This is of course a provocation, as most entrepreneurs think in the medium and long term, but they would be well advised to pass the message on to the lower management levels…
Indeed, it is often in the intermediate hierarchical levels that the problem arises: under nebulous or spurious pretexts, a fear of having to justify themselves or a lack of knowledge of the life of the company, or even a complete emotional detachment from their employer, many “intermediate” managers no longer take responsibility for their decisions and choices.
This form of fair-weather leadership reduces vision and strategy to the bare essentials. “To lead is to plan”: it is not possible to venture into projects of a certain scale without being fully prepared. This is where the principles of
• Good governance,
• Transparency,
• Trust,
• Reliable information seeking,
• Etc.
It should be added that for some companies with managers trained in certain management schools for whom “cover my a…” seems to be a strategy, these expressions are science fiction.
Sometimes you must go against the grain to dare to adopt a medium and/or long-term strategy, even if it means changing it along the way. You must dare to defy the current values of “everything and right away” and you have to be ready to (re)think differently. In this sense, older people often have unsuspected resources in this area and a good mix of young and older decision-makers can produce excellent results.
In conclusion, it is not the astonishing speed of current changes that should prevent us from planning: let’s keep calm, let’s plan and we will advise when the time comes.
Good week, good thoughts and see you soon.