Video Transcript: Making a Plan

All right, welcome back. My name is Steve Elzinga. We are in the coaching class—life coaching, spiritual coaching, actually coaching of any sort where you're trying to help someone figure out how to do something different in their life, how to make goals and actually accomplish things, get out of the chaos of many demands, to-do lists that are so long that they never get done. All the things that bring brokenness and unhappiness to people's lives—you’re actually, as the coach, trying to help them figure that out.

In the last session, we looked at how a coach goes about helping a client figure out what area of life to even focus on, and then what kind of action they want to pursue or what kind of goal they have in mind. In this session, we're going to look at the next step. This is the next thing that a coach helps the client do, and that is make a plan of action.

You can have a goal—“I want to get a degree.” Okay, maybe you have that goal. You want to get a religious education degree. Well, then you need a plan to do it. You need to take so many courses, and those courses, that plan can be very detailed—how long it's going to take, what courses you have to take, and so on. So that's the section we're at: how do you go about making a plan?

Remember, coaching is about getting your client to some form of action—some kind of goal that they want to pursue. And there are three things coaches do to accomplish this:

1. They help a client figure out what they want to do. That's the decision—that’s what we looked at last time.

2. They help the client figure out how to do what they want to do. That is the plan.

3. Finally, they help the client do what they plan to do. That’s management.

What is planning? Planning is about figuring out a progression of steps that lead to a desired accomplishment or outcome over time. Let me read that again: planning is about figuring out a progression of steps that lead to a desired accomplishment or outcome—some goal—and that happens over time.

Why do people need help planning what they have decided to do? If you want to do something, just go do it. Why do people need help planning to do it?

Number one: lack of patience.

People often think, “Well, this is what I want to do,” and they just go and do it. They don't realize until it's too late that if they had just sat down and thought about it for a while, they could have made it easier. For example: I want to chop a tree down. So I grab the axe out of my garage and start whacking away. And I don't understand why it's taking me an hour to get through this tree. It's because I didn't plan. My goal was to chop the tree down, but I didn't sharpen the saw. I didn't even check to sharpen the saw.

That’s what happens. We have goals, we have things we want to do, but we don't take the time to sit down and go, “Okay, what is it really going to take to do this? What is the pre-step? What is the prior step? What are the many steps? How does this break down?” We just jump in and start doing something maybe three steps down the road. And because we didn't do the first two steps, it takes longer and gets complicated.

Often I do that with projects around the house. I just grab it and start doing, and I don't think it through. Then I have to find tools, or I don't have the tools, and then I get halfway and can't complete it. I started something and now I have wires hanging out of the wall.

What we need to do is help the client: “Okay, you decided what you want to do. But now what is the plan to accomplish this?” We lack the patience. We don't want to take the time. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “If you give me two hours to chop a tree down, I'll spend the first hour sharpening the saw.”

Number two: many people are not gifted at breaking down an outcome into logical sequential steps.
A lot of us are not sequential thinkers. We're not logical thinkers. Most people are not logical. They want to do something, but they don't think about all the steps it takes. And even if they had all the steps, they wouldn't know how to put them in order unless someone comes alongside and says, “Okay, let's think this through. We have five steps. Which one should you start with? Which one is second? What are the consequences if you start with this one or that one?” You're helping them slow down the planning process.

Number three: many are too optimistic about how much time it takes.

I'm guilty of that. I think something will take three hours—it takes six. I underestimate pitfalls, problems, missing tools, cleanup, unexpected complications. People are too optimistic because they don't take time to plan.

Number four: no disciplined process.

People don't know how to make a plan. They don't know how to begin thinking about making a plan. They don't know what a plan even entails.

How does coaching help people plan?

Number one: a coach slows the planning process down.

People come up with a goal and immediately jump to the first thing they think of—which might be step three. A coach says, “Let’s slow down. Let’s think about all the steps. Equipment, space, time, energy, people—let’s brainstorm everything needed.”

Number two: planning models.

Just like decision-making models, there are planning models—different ways of thinking about planning. These help the client consider possibilities and structure their thinking.

There are three basic model categories:

1. Pre-planning

2. Brainstorming and breaking down the plan

3. Commitment

Pre-Planning

1. Cold resources

Equipment, facilities, physical tools, travel, research materials.

Example:
Writing a children’s book required:

• a drawing tablet

• storage drives

• reference books

• a research trip to Israel for authentic visuals

2. Warm resources

People.

• People by connection

• People by skill or trade

• People by support

• People by experience

Example:
Talking to someone who has sold to Costco, consulting artists, learning from someone who published a children’s book.

3. Intellectual resources

Information, research, examples, studying what others have done.

Brainstorm Plans of Action

Different ways of thinking about planning:

1. Linear sequence — step 1, step 2, step 3

2. Shotgun approach — start anywhere, don’t overthink order

3. Mud-on-the-wall approach — try things and see what works

4. Solo vs. team — do you need others?

5. Consensus approach — group helps design the plan

6. Mining vs. hunting

• Mining: you know the goal; you just dig

• Hunting: you don’t know the steps; you explore

7. Research vs. learn-as-you-go

Commitment

Eventually the client must choose a planning approach and commit.

Types of commitments:

1. Try it for a season — short-term experiment

2. Throw mud on the wall — exploratory commitment

3. Time-based commitment — “I’ll give this 5 hours a week”

4. Life-level commitment — long-term dedication

The commitment sets expectations and energy level. After commitment comes the next phase: how to actually do it.

We'll see you again next time.