Anticipating Failure is a Part of the Plan

 Anticipating Failure is a Part of the Plan

During a brainstorming session, a group was tasked with planning a cultural event for an organization. The first team received a detailed outline of the tasks required, covering the pre-event, event, and post-event phases. Once briefed, this team was sent to a separate room to develop their plan.

The second team was also informed about the pre-event, event, and post-event phases. Still, their focus was on identifying potential delays, failures, crises, and challenges they might face in successfully organizing the event. One team member expressed concern about thinking negatively, to which the facilitator replied, "It's practical to consider these issues so we can prevent failure."

After both discussions, the teams were invited to present their findings. The first team presented a comprehensive plan that detailed what, where, why, when, who, how, and how much for each phase of the event.

In contrast, the second team focused on the obstacles that could hinder the event's success, discussing potential crises, challenges, and bottlenecks.

When the facilitator asked about their takeaways from the exercise, participants concluded that it is essential to anticipate crises, challenges, and bottlenecks, and to develop proactive measures to ensure their plans don’t fail. The facilitator reinforced this idea by stating that a good plan should aim for success while also considering the reasons for potential failure. This approach can help to create a foolproof plan and minimize problems during execution.

The facilitator then instructed both teams to collaborate in generating ideas to reduce crises, challenges, and bottlenecks, ensuring that they had a solid plan in place.

A plan is not complete without a Failure Model and Effect Analysis. Just as the best cars undergo crash tests to ensure safety before being sold to customers, it is crucial to provide a clear plan for team members to execute. This way, they will not be left clueless about what needs to be done when facing challenges during execution.

M.L. Narendra Kumar