What to Do When Your Plan Isn't Working

It happens all the time: your plan isn't working. Maybe it's a business plan, a product strategy, a website design, a CRM program, an incentive plan, or a branding strategy. It's just not working out. So you do what most people do in this sort of situation. Nothing.

Sounds crazy, but you'd be surprised how many otherwise smart and accomplished executives, directors, and managers in companies big and small beat their heads against the same wall, day in and day out, just waiting for something different to happen or muttering "stay the course."

Albert Einstein once said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," or something to that affect. Well, that's one perspective.

Of course, there is something to be said for staying focused and following a plan through thick and thin. The trick is recognizing the difference between following through on a plan and a plan that's gone south. First, let's take it from the top.

Why do we do it?
Lots of reasons. Entrepreneurs are taught to steadfastly stick to their plan or strategy, come hell or high water. Sometimes that's the only way to succeed in the face of highly competitive market forces and resistance to change. Other times we're too close to the situation to view it objectively. Or maybe we're just stubborn.

I think the most common and sticky situation is when you've put so much into a plan that's meant to resolve a difficult problem that the very idea of revisiting it and potentially blowing up the whole thing represents a huge barrier. It's painful and, well, you'd just as soon not go there.

So what do you do?
As you can see, the reasons for this sort of behavior are genuine and varied. In other words, you're not crazy, an idiot, or a bad manager. So beating yourself up about it is definitely a dead end. The underlying problem is actually not with you or the plan itself, but with the process. It lacks one or more of these five key ingredients:

1. A team of smart, expert people with unique perspectives who aren't afraid to speak up.
2. A definition of the problem, success, and timeframe.
3. Specific success metrics and baseline data.
4. Qualitative and/or quantitative data for periodic review.
5. A leader who knows how to drive the team to consensus.