Planning

For complete information on the eleven leadership competencies, order Resources for Leadership.

This competency, sometimes also called problem-solving, enables the learner to:1

• List the seven steps of planning.
• Define each step of the planning process.
• List three competencies that influence planning.
• List five resources to be considered when planning.
• Describe why considering alternatives is an important step.
• Draw a diagram of the planning process.
• List four things to consider when reaching a decision.
• Describe four reasons to write down your plan.
• List four standard questions for evaluating a written plan.
• Name two ways that planning contributes to group success.

The basic outline for this competency has not changed in over 30 years. Additional information is added, layers of complexity are introduced, but the basic scheme remains: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.

About Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving has six "phases":

1. Consider the Task
   • What is the task? Legitimize it. How does it feel? What's the real problem? What's the best/worst/most probable result likely if we solve this problem? Who has ownership? State as a question. Problem as given/Problem as understood (PAG/PAU). Lasso. Is/Is not. Diagram.
2. Analysis
• Why is it a problem? (Basic questions).
• Break it down/component parts.
• Force Field analysis (forces for sustaining the problem/forces against/restraining the problem).
• Generalize/exemplify.
• Ask the Expert.
3. Generate Alternatives
   • Win/Win (consensus)
   • Both/And
   • Build up/synthesize
   • Straw voting
   • Negative voting
   • Focus on Agreements
   • Back off
4. Implementation
   • Concurrent evaluation.
   • Sharing leadership.
   • Keeping group together.
   • Getting the job done.
5. Evaluation Feedback.
   • Strengths/Weaknesses.
   • Improvements.
   • Feed-forward.

Problem-solving includes:

• Using specified skills to identify the nature of a given situation or task.
• Alternative methods for determining the appropriate solution
• Applying guidelines for analyzing a task or problem in order to solve it.

Along with Evaluation and Manager of Learning, this competency is one of the most critical and complex in leadership development. Skilled use of this competency positively influences the leader's ability to get the job done and keep the group together in all kinds of situations. See Figure 15-1 for a graphical description of problem-solving process described in this chapter.