Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
Alexander Graham Bell
For something that is widely recognised as genuinely important in life, business, and professionalism, planning gets a bad rap. There are a number of reasons for this which are predominantly centered around the way the human brain works and the behaviours that societies traditionally reinforce:
- Planning and problem solving occurs in the frontal lobe of the brain. Different people use this particular part of the brain more or less than others. This is why some people are more naturally inclined to be able to plan and others struggle.
- Despite these preferences, humans are not natural planners. Everyone’s brains are programmed for survival above all else.
- Even when humans do plan, it is often restricted to fulfilling the next need or an imminent short term need like looking for the next meal, or stockpiling food in case of a snowstorm.
- Humans like to take action; they are natural “doers.” Humans get physically uncomfortable when they feel that they aren’t engaged in action.
- People like instant gratification. Research shows that most humans would rather have an immediate benefit now than an increased benefit in the future. This is called hyperbolic discounting.
- Traditional concepts of leadership such as the Great Man Theory (Thomas Carlyle 1840) place significant emphasis and praise on those seen to be “men of action.”
- The traditions of how society values action has over the centuries governed who is promoted to power, who is listened to, who is overruled, and who is dismissed.
The Communication Cycle
Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.
Alan Lakein
Whilst humankind has been planning in some form or another since the evolution of man, the study of planning in relation to organizational and professional development is a comparatively new concept. It wasn’t until 1957, in a paper produced by Harvard and Igor Ansoff, that the modern day concept of strategic planning was introduced. At its simplest level, strategic planning is the road map for getting to where you want to go.
Planning for communication has the same aim, a plan for ensuring that the communicator gets the audience to where they want them to be. It also has a built-in mechanism for making improvements based on feedback and correcting course as needed.
American engineer and management consultant W. Edwards Deming’s cycle for continuous improvement is a tried and tested mechanism to plan, deliver, assess, and improve communication:
Cycle for continuous improvement
Source: W. Edwards Deming
- Plan the communication
- Do the communication
- Study the feedback of the communication (evaluate effectiveness)
- Act on the results of the feedback
Unlock full access by logging in. Registered users can explore the entire lesson and more.