February 2021 - 30

POHMER ON
A New Way of
Thinking and Planning
The 70% solution can help your IGC to make better, more informed
decisions that can be executed with better odds of success.
By Stan Pohmer
T
he year 2020 brought us a whole new set of variables
we hadn't anticipated or planned for; this got me
thinking about some inadequacies in our traditional
planning processes. We've always had to contend with the
one persistent variable - weather - in our business, but
2020 brought us a whole new set of variables we hadn't
anticipated or planned for, and this got me thinking about
some inadequacies in our traditional planning processes.
Historically, most business leaders have adopted a
planning philosophy whereby you attempt to predict the
future environment you might anticipate in the next year,
and then establish your mission on how you might achieve
your financial and operational goals.
You've analyzed last year's performance to help determine
what worked/didn't work so you can incorporate your
findings into next year's planning. You've conducted SWOT
(Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats) reviews to help
you honestly and objectively identify your real competition,
and your competitive advantages and limitations to help
build a framework for planning your future.
Then, you built your strategies and activities needed to
accomplish your mission. You probably know this process
as " Plan your work, and work your plan, " establishing
measurable timelines, milestones, action plans, etc., that
you can benchmark your progress and achievement upon
during the course of the season or year.
On its face, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this
traditional planning process; it's served many businesses
well for many years, and it's a great foundation to include
in future planning processes. But it's a somewhat rigid
process, allowing us to respond to minor known variables
and leaving us woefully unprepared for major variables we
hadn't anticipated (like pandemics).
30 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | FEBRUARY 2021
I continue to be extremely proud of the way companies
in the horticulture industry reacted to the significant
challenges presented to them in 2020. Note that the key
word to focus on in the prior sentence was " reacted " - our
2020 success was due much more to consumers themselves
deciding that our products were enjoyable and would
enhance their quality of life than anything we did to ensure
our success.
There are many small businesses out there that didn't
have the products consumers wanted, weren't viewed as
" essential " and weren't able to react to the massive change
they experienced ... and are no longer with us. Not to take
away from your accomplishments, but we were as lucky as
we were good!
Planning to Adapt
What I've identified in my thinking is that, in addition
to our traditional planning processes, we now need to add
the element of " planning to adapt. " If you've followed this
column over the years, you know that based on experience
and study, I'm a huge fan of the leadership principles of the
Marine Corps and SEALs, two teams where the missions
are critical and the stakes are much higher than what
we deal with. But many of their leadership principles,
characteristics, traits and actions are directly applicable to
business operations - and apply not only to the managers/
leaders, but equally to the rest of the team. At their core,
everything these teams plan is based on flexibility, agility,
adaptability and speed - all traits that are required to react
and respond to sudden and unplanned changes, while still
remaining focused on accomplishing the original mission
and doing it faster than your competition.
One of these planning and execution principles is to " aim
for the 70% solution. " The idea behind this concept is that,
based on experience, you cannot have 100% confidence
that all the factors you considered when you initially made
your plans will still exist when it's time to execute. The
battlefield is dynamic, and things are constantly changing;
your original plan likely will not allow you to achieve your
objectives in this new environment.
February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2021
