“And the next step in your musing about next year?” I asked.

“At some point, the musing stops,” Lauren replied. “With our vision clearly described, we, now, have to get specific. We have to lay in some goals. The mood turns to targets, checkpoints, outcomes, benchmarks, whatever you want to call it. It’s a goal. Something at a specific Quality standard, at a defined Quantity, within a Time deadline, with specific assigned Resources. QQTR.”

“And who sets these goals?”

“We set them together, each person according to their Time Span of Discretion,” she continued. “My goals have longer Time Spans than our managers. Our managers’ goals have longer Time Spans than our supervisors.”

“And what if there is disagreement on what the goal should be?”

“In the end, we have to be in agreement about the goal, but, as the manager, it is my job to set the context and support why the goals are necessary. The accountability is up to me, to determine the tasks and activities of my managers and supervisors.”

“What’s the next step in the planning process?” I pushed. “How do you know that your vision makes a connection with every team member?”

“Simple,” Lauren replied. “I ask them. I know it is quite a novel idea. You would be surprised what you can learn about a person by asking a few questions.”

Her sarcasm brought a smile, so I played along. “Really? Asking questions?”

“So, I call a team meeting,” Lauren explained. “The subject area is planning, and we talk about the vision. I draw some circles and arrows, label a few things about my vision, and then ask them to fill in the white space. And we talk. As we talk, the picture on the flipchart gets messier, and the vision becomes clearer.”

“And then?”

“And then I stop. I stop and send them away. The next step requires thought and preparation. I want them to do that on their own, before our next meeting. The vision describes the destination. They have to figure out how we are going to get there. They have some decisions to make.”

“This musing, you describe, your first step in the planning process. How do you carry it to the next steps of planning? How does it help?” I asked.

“That’s why it’s so helpful. I used to sit down and start setting goals, but I gotta tell you, if you don’t know where you intend to go, you don’t know if a goal will keep you on track or lead you astray,” Lauren began. “Some people call it, creating a vision. And that’s fine if you are a visual person. But my musing about the future contains visual elements, sounds, smells and feelings. When I begin talking with my team about where I intend to go, I have to be able to touch everyone in the group in a way they can see it, hear it and feel it.”

“Since you feel so strongly about this part of the planning process, tell me more about your musing?” I asked.

“Some people get stumped by starting on the wrong foot,” Lauren explained. “They sit and try to think of all the things they could do. My problem is that, as fast as I can think of something I could do, I can also think of about five reasons why it’s not possible.”

“Yes,” I replied. “One of your strengths is to anticipate obstacles before they occur, so we can take evasive action early. Tell me how you keep your mind from killing your ideas before they can take off. It must be a struggle.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t struggle. I just skip it,” she continued.

“Skip it?”

“Instead of trying to figure out what I could do, I just skip to the end, to where I have already completed the goal. And with that goal already accomplished, I simply imagine the world, then. And as I imagine, I ask myself if that is the world I intended to create?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Lauren was in a good mood. “I mean, I don’t think planning begins with setting goals. I think there is a lot that comes before, and for me it’s the best part. Setting goals is very specific. It takes work to set out precisely what we intend to accomplish. Before that, I like to muse.”

“Is that a management term, muse?”

“Not really. I think it has to do with vision, but I like the word muse. It is truly an exercise in imagination. And if I take it too seriously, it takes all the fun out of it. What do I think next year will bring? And in that environment, what do I intend to make happen?”

“Is this an exercise in solitude?”

Lauren stopped to think, “In the beginning, yes. Before we begin a discussion, with my team, it’s just me. At the same time, I encourage my team to be thinking the same way. Go someplace quiet and just think for a while. What do I intend to make happen?“

“So, you’re not thinking about the holidays?” I observed, Lauren staring into space.

“How did you know?” she replied.

“You were looking further out.”

“Yes, I was just thinking this has been a tough year, and I am thinking next year will be better. The holidays are nice, with family and friends, but it’s also the time of year where I relax and let my imagination run a little bit. I get to spend time, especially after Christmas, thinking about the new year. If I wrote it down, it would be called planning.”

“You don’t write down your thoughts?”

Lauren smiled. “Yes, I actually do, but that’s not the part I am thinking about today.”