Flawless Planning

One of the most powerful and engaging questions we can ask any group is: “So, what’s your plan?”

When groups do Flawless Planning, they work together with the kind of cohesion and momentum that gives them the results they want. Even though “staying overwhelmed and hoping it works out” is a plan, it’s a classic flawed plan. If you want to see your group co-create a future different from the past, all they need to do is learn how to do Flawless Planning.

It’s easy to learn and applies to any kind of planning—strategic, project, operational, and program planning.

Flawless Planning

  • The open source Flawless Planning model began 30 years ago and its current form can be applied to any kind of planning from simple to complex. It aligns people in a shared direction and gets results quickly because it’s question-based.

    When people get stuck or lost, it’s either because they are doing flawed planning or they’re doing no planning at all.

    The prime flaw in any planning context is working from assumptions. Flawless Planning is flawless because we work from zero assumptions. We work from the right questions at the right time.

    For more, visit FlawlessPlanning.org

The Group Planning Assessment

This assessment is for any kind of group whether it’s a team or committee. It assesses for how well the group plans together. Indicate the degree to which each of the following statements are true, with “1” being “very true about this group” and “5” being “not very true about this group.

  1. The group has challenges and opportunities but no plans for them

  2. The group’s plans tend to be based more on assumptions than questions

  3. The group has more meetings than results

  4. People in the group feel like they’re not all on the same page

  5. In group discussions, some people dominate and others disengage

  6. People in the group tend not voice their questions because they assume they would be unwelcome or unvalued

  7. People shut down questions by answering them with quick assumptions

  8. People in the group treat confident assumptions as facts

  9. The group assumes that as long as it has a leader, it doesn’t necessarily need a plan

  10. The group bases its plans on their predictions about the situation they’re planning

Scoring: The higher the total score, the more likely it is that the group is doing flawless planning. The lower the score, the more likely it is that they are doing flawed planning.

For example, total scores of 10-20 indicate a high likelihood of flawed planning, 20-40 indicate a mix of flawed and flawless planning, and 40-50 indicate a high likelihood of flawless planning.

Let us know when you want us to teach your group how to do Flawless Planning.