Things that go bump in the night

I was recently meeting with the leader of an organization.  The topic was developing a strategic plan.  Someone he respected had urged him to have the organization develop a plan because "it's a good thing to have."

Indeed, I said, a strategic plan is "a good thing to have."  In fact, my mission is "every organization has a plan and is acting on it."

But, I continued, what issues do you see that a plan might help you address?  How are revenues coming?  What's happening out there that concerns you?  Are you staffed correctly and developing the future key people you will need?  Are you investing in the right technology to get down the road you need to take to prosper?

No problems with revenue, no big issues seen "out there," staffing is great with future leaders embeded, we have the technology we need, etc., etc.

Wow, I wanted to be leading his organization!  Everything is perfect!

But I knew this organization maybe more than any needed to get a strategic plan in place and to be acting on it.  In this time of change and challenge for all organizations, anyone who thinks "everything is great" is deluding themselves.  There are always things out there that go bump in the night.  Some are nothing, others are that unexpected Icelandic volcano spewing ash and putting plans and programs into a tailspin.

As we talked more I could see issues emerging that he still did not see as problems - including tenuous relationships with key supply chain partners, a looming need to replace key equipment for which funding had not been set aside, and, perhaps most important, a leader who seemed not to understand that he needed not to get so comfortable but to worry about all those things that go bump in the night.