I was watching a football game over the weekend. As the quarterback left the huddle, he saw the defense shift formations. As his offense took their stance, ready for the snap, the quarterback called out a change in the play, an audible.

Back in the huddle, they had used 15 precious seconds agreeing on the play, yet right before execution, in a split second, the play changed.

“Did you see that?” the announcer exclaimed. “Boy, that team can think on their feet.”

But, as I watched the play, it was not a sequence of improvisational moves in response to a shift in defensive formations. It was a highly practiced, well executed play that had been audibly called at the line of scrimmage.

How many times have I seen an immaculate business plan go awry because of a shift in the marketplace, a shift from a competitor? And in response, I see a sequence of poorly executed improvised motions that do little more than create a bunch of noise on the shop floor.

Much more effective in the planning stage would be a series of plays designed to be responsive to contingencies in the marketplace. Calling an audible should not be a cue to improvised chaos, but a distinct call to a different, yet well-rehearsed, thought-out course of action. -TF