Hope for the best; plan for the worst

Need I say more in terms of my planning philosophy? Many of my colleagues over the years have considered me a bit gloomy always seeing potential disasters round every corner. Some have suspected that my hero is Private Frazer for the British TV Series ‘Dad’s Army’ who would lugubriously intone “Doomed! We are all doomed’ on occasions of challenge.  

I think in Event Management 101 Manual, it is axiomatic that there there is no risk free, completely safe operation - all events carry some level of risk. You have 4 clear choices to make as a leader when confronting risk: reduce; avoid; accept; transfer. The world is what it is and you cannot entirely magically mitigate risk  away by hope; but you can recognise and carefully consider how you manage it and keep the public safe. 

Having written, reviewed and been part of delivering 1000s of operational plans from the UK State Opening of Parliament through armed high risk proactivity to World Cup Finals, I am sure that having a thoughtful, well articulated written plan underpinned by considered contingencies and command protocols is essential; a careful inclusive planning process is the bedrock of professional practice. This is encapsulated in my view by failing to plan is planning to fail - you need to think about what you are trying to achieve and have a roadmap get there. 

Another of my bug bears is ‘cutting and pasting’; I am not a luddite and have done a bit of this in the past myself; but I have found it most instructive over the years to compare plans iteratively over time by organisations and individuals and see if there is any learning or evolution of concept contained within them or whether is it the same old stuff with a new date added. For me cut and pasted plans are always a red flag of an organisation or team that is not match fit and will struggle in extremis.

In my professional practice, I prepare a full written plan then boil it down to a single page exec summary and a 6- 8 slide Power Point deck. Both parts, are in my view essential as you have the depth of thinking underpinned by summaries that convey a clarity of thought and that can be used as briefing tools. 

As Harold Macmillan, a former British Prime Minister, said ‘Events dear boy; events!” In my view, bringing a set of fresh eyes to each planning process and challenging accepted assumptions when writing an operational plan is the bedrock and best safeguard against catastrophic failure or the underachievement of objectives.