Planning to Win
July 01, 2011
Here’s a counterintuitive proposition: in order for a team to perform optimally, some individuals have to intentionally lower their performance. This may seem impossible, but a simple sailing analogy illustrates this point.
When a yacht is racing towards a waypoint, or reference point on its route to the finish, it seems logical for the helmsman to set a course that heads directly towards that waypoint. But usually due to the wind direction, he or she needs to put in a series of tacks (zigzag) in order to sail as close to the wind as possible for maximum speed. You might argue that sailing close to the wind is still optimizing in a sense. Perhaps, but the helmsman is still compromising direction for speed, while the other crew members are making constant adjustments to sail trim and weight distribution to achieve this “compromise.”
Now let’s look at what happens when several yachts are approaching the finish line and there is very little room to maneuver. In this case, where the helmsman is constrained by two factors—space and wind direction—the navigator will often decide to sacrifice speed for the sake of keeping the boat headed on a more direct course to cross the finish line. Putting in a tack could waste too much time, cause a dangerous collision, or run the risk of the yacht missing the finish line altogether. In this case several crew members need to operate the boat intentionally in what would normally be considered sub-optimal. The sail trimmer, for example, “luffs” the sail so it is not so close to the wind and slows the boat right down.
An experienced sailing crew trained in competitive yacht racing can see in real time how its collaborative efforts are contributing to the goal of crossing the finish line. So members intuitively sacrifice their own performance at different times in order to win the race. This is exactly how businesses should operate, particularly when it comes to their planning activities. Yet very few of them actually do.
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Here’s a counterintuitive proposition: in order for a team to perform optimally, some individuals have to intentionally lower their performance. This may seem impossible, but a simple sailing analogy illustrates this point.
When a yacht is racing towards a waypoint, or reference point on its route to the finish, it seems logical for the helmsman to set a course that heads directly towards that waypoint. But usually due to the wind direction, he or she needs to put in a series of tacks (zigzag) in order to sail as close to the wind as possible for maximum speed. You might argue that sailing close to the wind is still optimizing in a sense. Perhaps, but the helmsman is still compromising direction for speed, while the other crew members are making constant adjustments to sail trim and weight distribution to achieve this “compromise.”
Now let’s look at what happens when several yachts are approaching the finish line and there is very little room to maneuver. In this case, where the helmsman is constrained by two factors—space and wind direction—the navigator will often decide to sacrifice speed for the sake of keeping the boat headed on a more direct course to cross the finish line. Putting in a tack could waste too much time, cause a dangerous collision, or run the risk of the yacht missing the finish line altogether. In this case several crew members need to operate the boat intentionally in what would normally be considered sub-optimal. The sail trimmer, for example, “luffs” the sail so it is not so close to the wind and slows the boat right down.
An experienced sailing crew trained in competitive yacht racing can see in real time how its collaborative efforts are contributing to the goal of crossing the finish line. So members intuitively sacrifice their own performance at different times in order to win the race. This is exactly how businesses should operate, particularly when it comes to their planning activities. Yet very few of them actually do.
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