“I already explained it to you,” said Teresa, a bit exasperated with me.

“I know, but it sounds so complicated,” I replied. “Look, you are frustrated with Carl because he seems to never meet his deadlines. When you ask for reasons, he leads you off on a series of rabbit trails that are very difficult to follow. Accountability becomes almost impossible. Do you know why Carl makes things so complicated?”

Teresa bit her bottom lip, then finally said, “No.”

“Sometimes, people make things complicated because they can. Maybe the project is not challenging, so Carl makes it more complicated just to keep it interesting. Have him take a piece of paper and draw a simple flowchart of the project, but limit him to only six circles and six arrows. If he wants to draw more than that, tell him he has to combine things.

“The point of this exercise is not to ignore the details, but to understand the project flow in simpler terms. If you can understand the project flow, you will find the important milestones that you need for follow-up.” -TF

“And when you finish the project, how will that make you feel?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” responded Mitchell. “The project will be over, I don’t know how I will feel.”

“Well, Mitchell, if you did know how you would feel, what would it be like?”

Mitchell struggled a moment. “I guess I would feel relieved that the project was over. I would feel a sense of accomplishment. I would feel more confident that I could do another project like that and be successful.”

“Good.” I said, watching Mitchell’s eyes. He was glad that I finally stopped pressing. “Here is the payoff. When you are painting a picture of that project in the future, don’t forget about the emotions that you will feel. Don’t forget about the emotions that the team will feel. Those emotions are the support you will need when the project goes through its tough times. Talk about it with your team now. Include those emotions in your picture of the future.” -TF

Jeremy followed the advice, broke his team into four smaller teams who each worked on a small piece of the project picture. Sixty days in the future, the project would be finished. One way or the other, it would be finished.

Jeremy had set goals before, but building this picture of the future was a bit odd as a first step in the planning process. “Why,” he asked. “Why is this picture so important?”

“Jeremy, in the past, during your planning, you set milestones, or goals. Tell me, how excited did your team get when you published the milestone list?” Jeremy looked at me sideways.

“Exactly,” I said. “Teams don’t get excited by goals. Goals are simply measurements. They help us evaluate success, but that’s about it.

“It’s the picture, the picture of the project completed. It’s the vision that builds enthusiasm. It may be the only tool you have as a manager to create excitement, to build energy in the team. That’s why I want to see detail in your picture. Color. Smells. Movement. Bring that project picture alive so your team can truly see it. That’s why the picture is so important.” -TF

“Oh, that was the easy part. I got that down in two sentences. It’s the rest of the plan that I am having trouble with,” said Jeremy. He was stuck putting a plan together. I had asked him to describe the picture of the project when it was complete, about 60 days in the future.

“Two sentences?” I queried. “How much detail can you fit into two sentences?”

“Well, since we just started the project, I don’t know how things will turn out,” stammered Jeremy. He knew where I was fishing.

“Exactly! If you cannot imagine how things will turn out, you will have difficulty influencing or controlling the results. The key is imagination. The initial visual picture that you create is the most important first step of any plan. It drives everything else in the plan. And here is the secret. The power of picture is in its detail.

“So, Jeremy, go back to drawing board and write me two pages about this project as if it is already finished. I want all the details. Use your imagination.” -TF