Planning and Doing…

On return from lunch Justine felt she had to speak up: “Wendy, I don’t think you’re going to like this, but the simple fact is we need to get cracking here. We can’t just spend all our time planning”. The pressure is on, and the Minister wants to see results. That’s why we’re a taskforce”.

“I get it” replied Wendy. But before she could say another word the evacuation alarm rang. They all trooped down the stairwell, out through the exit doors, and assembled with all the other building occupants on a nearby grassed area, spilling over into the car park.

“How many people do you reckon are here?” asked Mark. It made for an interesting 5 minute conversation. They decided somewhere between 300 and 1000.

“That’s the problem with estimating” chuckled Wendy, and Justine laughed out loud: “you’re not wrong, but just quietly if I could get my financial estimates that accurate I’d be cheering”. Everyone laughed. A nice little bond was forming between the four of them.

Kathy looked around, and said ”just think about it Justine, there will probably be this many people working on our taskforce in one way or another”.

“And that”, added Wendy in no more than a split second, “is why you need plans. It’s fine to think things through and talk the way we have done this week, but you still need to write stuff down. Justine nodded.

“So I’m torn Wendy. I love what you’ve helped us clarify this week, and I can see the need to do more planning, especially with the car park, but like I said just before we came outside we really need to start doing”.

“How about you do both” said Wendy. “Planning and doing. When we get back inside we’ll spend the rest of this afternoon and tomorrow figuring out next steps. Some of it will be planning, some of it will be doing, we just need to get the balance right”.

To be continued…