Leaders Have a Plan: When They Don’t They Create One on the Fly
Good leaders have the skills to improvise and meet a challenge.
This essay is one in a series about the importance of plans and
procedures and the role they play in leadership and decision-making.Great leaders have a plan for every imaginable scenario or crisis.
A competent candidate interviewing for a management position will ask for a copy of the organization’s Policies and Procedures Manual. They will vet every organization they are considering.
There is probably no bigger first-glance indicator of how a company or nonprofit functioned in the past than the state of its policies and procedures.
Weak or nonexistent policies and procedures are a huge red flag and a competent managerial candidate would not likely accept a position in an organization that didn’t have comprehensive policies and procedures already in place (unless there was a good reason for that).
A start-up company might not yet have its policies and plans fully developed. Procedures might be outdated if there’s been a recent re-branding or merger.
Leaders Have a Plan for Every Scenario — Except the Unexpected
Not every possible scenario can be anticipated and planned for but a leader doesn’t find that out until the unexpected happens.
The Skills to Think On Their Feet
The most effective leaders have the executive skills to handle the unexpected. They think on their feet and they take action without hesitation.
The Skills to Innovate and Quickly Problem Solve
Leaders who are good at thinking on their feet, almost always have the two additional skills of innovation and implementation. This is the ability to create a plan on the fly and to immediately put their plan into action. These two are often done simultaneously, which is referred to in the business world as “Building the plane while you fly it.”
It’s what great leaders do when met with an unexpected challenge (like a pandemic). I don’t have to look any further than my own city’s leadership for an example of that.
In April 2021 I wrote a one-year evaluation of Amesbury’s Mayor Gove. I reported on her performance and compared it to the kind of mayor I hoped she would be.
I was most impressed with how she handled the pandemic without missing a beat only two months into her first term. Mayor Gove had the skills to think on her feet and she had the wherewithal to immediately recognize the need and to act. She also knew what she needed to do.
Another essay in this series also features the small city of Amesbury as a role model for creating a coordinated school crisis plan: “School Crisis Preparedness: Why is it Rare Rather Than Required?”
What Are These Plans and Procedures?
Let’s define them.
“A Plan is a blueprint that a leader develops (preferably in advance) that is based on an organization’s mission and policies. Plans are needed for various potential scenarios and consist of procedures, that include detailed sequential steps.
A Procedure is one component that contains instructions for how to carry out a Plan. Procedures might be carried out by both leaders and subordinates, each performing tasks appropriate to their role. If a leader is not present during a crisis, the subordinates refer to the Plan and carry out the Procedures step by step. A well-crafted Plan can effectively guide subordinates in the absence of their leader.” — yours truly, CG
Read more in Organizational Processes & Procedures: How to Create & Strengthen Them
The Executive Skills:
- the ability to foresee potential problems, and anticipate how they might play out
- the ability to recognize a crisis immediately
- the ability to analyze an emergency or crisis situation
- the courage to instantly take action based on their assessment
- the skill of creative thinking and the ability to improvise
- making informed but swift decisions
- the formulation of a plan on the fly when necessary
- immediate implementation of their plan
- the ability to effectively delegate tasks to the appropriate staff
- understanding the necessity of monitoring and evaluating their plan
- the humility and wisdom to seek feedback from all levels
- the willingness to accept feedback
- the confidence to change course as needed without fear of losing face
Taking the Reigns of a Leaderless Country
Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker of the House, was officially third in command of the country (second in line to the presidency).
On January 6, 2021, the President of the United States did not uphold his duties as our county’s leader and defied his oath of office to protect the people of the United States. Instead, he sat in front of his TV in the White House watching his violent supporters break windows, enter the U.S. Capital, attack police officers with flagpoles and bear spray, chant “Hang Mike Pence!” (his Vice President), and screaming “Oh, Nancy! Naaanncy!” as they hunted for the Speaker of the House.
As second in command of the country, the Vice President was rushed out of the Senate chamber and taken to a safe area of the Capitol, then escorted by Secret Service to a back entrance and told to get into the waiting armored vehicle, presumably to take him to an even safer place. The Vice President had the forethought and intuition to make a quick decision and responded “I’m not getting into that car.”
Speaker Pelosi, who has no Secret Service protection, stayed as cool as a cucumber during the entire attack on the Capitol.
In the fall of 2022 video footage became available that was recorded on January 6, 2021, of the activities and movement of members of Congress.
In that footage, we see Speaker Nancy Pelosi keeping her anger and frustration under control as she made endless phone calls to federal law enforcement agencies begging them to send help to retake control of the Capitol Building and protect the safety of members of Congress. It was clear from what could be heard on Pelosi’s side of the conversation that she was getting nothing but excuses for the lack of response, as the lives of Congress and the Vice President were on the line.
Demonstrating her leadership and strategic brilliance Pelosi spoke to the acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, like he was a child, calmly explaining into the speakerphone,
“Just pretend for a moment it was the Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege. You can logistically get people there as you make the plan. And you have some leadership of the National Guard there, they have not been given the authority to activate.”
In another video, Pelosi was on the phone with Vice President, Mike Pence. Her collaboration with him, and concern for his safety was clearly sincere and an impressive demonstration of leadership.
We watched Speaker Pelosi who probably had not eaten all day, tear open a Slim Jim with her teeth while still talking on the phone to the Vice President.
Ending the call she demonstrates that she’s well aware of the potential danger and magnitude of the situation, she gives Mike Pence the advice you give to someone you care about, “Don’t let anybody know where you are!”
When Leadership is Lacking
Bad situations and dangerous scenarios can result from a lack of leadership. We can only imagine if Pelosi and Pence had not had the skills and the resolve to handle a horrendous situation and then proceed to carry out their constitutional duties late that night.
Some leadership weaknesses are simply annoyances related to inefficiency or muddled communication, but others can be life-threatening.
What happens in a crisis when there is a lack of leadership?
A leader who can’t step up and effectively lead in an unforeseen crisis because no emergency procedure is already in place is a leader who lacks the executive skills, to meet the moment.
Those are the times when non-leaders who have the skills will hopefully step up and do what is needed. Those who have leadership skills but are not in a position of authority will be able to recognize, assess, plan, and delegate as long as their incompetent or hesitant leader and peers are smart enough to not stand in their way. Hopefully, no one will pull rank to try to stop them because they feel threatened by that person’s competency.
If we find ourselves in a crisis that isn’t being handled and we have a sense of what needs to happen, it is our duty to not stay silent. It is our duty to step into a leadership role. That can begin with making suggestions to the person in charge (if there is one).
Or that might mean “overstepping” our current authority. We might later experience the consequences of our insubordinate behavior, but concern about that is not on our mind when we see a situation that needs immediate attention. We have ideas about what needs to be done and we don’t stop to ask permission — we just act.
Stepping up to lead also doesn’t mean just ordering people around. In a life-threatening situation, you might indeed start telling people what to do but it doesn’t mean throwing your weight around. Contrary to what many people think, that’s not leadership.
Anyone can take on a leadership role. When you see something coming, see danger developing before others see it, speak up and call attention to it.
Use your creative thinking and problem-solving skills to quickly develop a plan — even if it’s a sketchy outline. It’s a place to start when there is no plan in place.
The good news is that with executive skills, you will likely have no problem filling in the plan with more details as you go. And with an open mind, you will welcome the input of others and can likely facilitate that process. Avoid rambling hair-brained ideas, but don’t rule out all of them. They might come from the deep-thinking brainiac introverts who almost never speak up to share their brilliance but if invited, especially in the midst of a crisis, can come through with their quiet genius.
Make sure you hear from those you know to be creative thinkers and off the beaten path even if they have no expertise related to the problem. An outsider can often clue into what others would never think of or notice.
My essay “Leadership Decisions During an Unimaginable Crisis: 5 Days Underwater” describes another extremely harrowing crisis and the difficult decisions made by someone who stepped into a leadership role.
When a Lack of Leadership is a National Security Failure
The January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol is a textbook example of a security failure resulting from a lack of leadership.
Having a Plan is Leadership
“Does Anybody Have a Plan?” was the headline of almost every newspaper including the New York Times article above. The articles pointed to the January 6th leadership failings and the lack of a key component of every well-functioning organization — having emergency plans and procedures in place.
A lack of a crisis plan is a lack of leadership.
Read more about the necessity of written procedures and the lack of them within the police force at the U.S. Capitol: “Procedures Are Everything: The Capitol Police Didn’t Have One for Handling an Attack on Congress”
The Government Report on Failed Leadership
On June 8, 2021, the Senate released “Examing the U.S. Capitol Attack: A review of the Security, Planning and Response Failures on January 6” a joint report from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Rules and Administration.
The report is quite damning and spells out the many leadership failures.
The Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton and Homeland Security Director Greta Goodwin Testified during the June 15, 2021, congressional hearing.
Bolton and his team made more than 100 recommendations, including,
“urging the force to transition from a reactive police department to a proactive, protective one.” *
“needs to restructure its civil disturbance unit and overhaul its intelligence operation”
“illustrates a department woefully unprepared for the deadly pro-Trump insurrection, including a lack of training and operational planning deficiencies.”
— Inspector General Cites Glaring Problems within Capitol Police
*Transitioning from “reactive” to “proactive” translates to “find a competent leader, get your shit together, and create a written crisis plan with detailed procedures.”
The Homeland Security Director, Greta Goodwin stated that her agency had been trying to get information from the Capitol Police board since 2017 with almost no response.
A Failing of the Homeland Security Agency’s Leadership
The Department of Homeland Security presumably made phone calls, sent emails and snail mail letters to the Capitol Police Board, and got no response for four years, but took no other action to address the non-responsiveness. Did the leader of DHS not see that as a gigantic red flag of poor leadership? Did the DHS leader not recognize that the Capitol Police department was not up to par, and therefore presented a national security threat?
What kind of leadership is that?
When two national security agencies don’t talk to each other much less coordinate policy development and training, that’s a BFD!
Read the other essays in this series about procedures and leadership:
Procedures Are Everything: Capitol Police Didn’t Have One for Handling the Attack on Congress
Organizational Processes & Procedures: How to Create & Strengthen Them
School Crisis Preparedness: Why is it Rare Rather Than Required?
Christine Green helps small organizations create or improve their Policies & Procedures.
