One of the most important lessons I have learned recently explains the short-falls of some of the world’s most important missions both in military and business. For the most part, leaders are excellent at drawing up mission statements and objectives. From that point the results split drastically. Once you have a mission, you need a plan. However, these are not separate isolated concepts rather they are complementary and directly correlated. Serious mistakes are made when you get caught up in the plan.
Let me explain. The plan only serves one purpose: to accomplish the mission. The plan does not need additional flair or politics. Often times, plans are drawn up from political influence, intellectual “structural requirements”, societal influences, and other un-related elements. Let’s review an example.
To keep things simple, let’s stick with a Military example. Take a look at the failure of Operation Eagle Claw: The attempt to rescue the 52 American hostages held in Iran.o The mission was to safely rescue these 52 Americans. The plan turned into a political monumental show of force opportunity for every branch under the Joint Chiefs. The Navy needed to be used, Army commandos were selected as the operators to conduct the assault, Air Force had to be involved for transport, and every other element wanted a hand in the “PLAN”. The attempt later failed when several of the helicopters (not ever used for Special Forces raids were used despite poor maintenance and lack of night-vision trained pilots) failed mechanically and had to turn back. The mision was then cancelled on the ground by DELTA Force Commander Col. Charlie Beckwith due to the lack of helicopters to deliver the assult force. Upon the departure of the force from Desert One, a Sea Stallion helicopter slammed into an Air Force EC-130 upon take-off causing a huge explosion and starting a fire killing several of our men. The plan failed, and therefore the mission failed. The plan became the mission; requiring extra influence, un-trained resources, over-complication, and too many cooks in the kitchen. Pride and self-benefitting agendas corrupt some of the most well intended plans.
Taking a step back and dropping the ego of the plan gives you a clear mind to build a plan that directly complements the achievement of a mission. In business, this often requires a clear headed leader who can see through the paths of distraction that normally cloud the outcome.
I can’t urge you enough (mostly from my own failures) to focus on the mission and let the mission give you the ideal plan – because one really does complement the other.
