The Helicopter Plan

Imagine building a staircase with one hundred steps.  The foundation for each and every step must be in place in
order to support the steps as you go upwards.  Clearly as you build a solid foundation you will find that adding and
climbing the subsequent steps becomes easier.  Once the foundation is in place, your focus can easily shift to
adding and climbing the remaining steps as fast as you can.  After reaching the third step you seem to have got
the hang of this process.  You can now look forward and see exactly how the remainder of the steps will be built.  
For the first time you have not only a clear vision of the end game but you can actually see how you are going to
get there.  Your confidence and enthusiasm have never been higher.  

At this point, you have two choices to make.  The wise choice would be to continue building the foundation
and steps exactly as you now see them.  Your experiences combined with the clarity you have gained about the
path to the top have positioned you well for success.  Or, you could let your enthusiasm turn into impatience and
go for the shortcut.  You can decide it is time for the helicopter plan.  You let all of your prior judgment and
planning fly out the window.  Surprisingly, many leaders do this despite learning by experience that creating a
strong foundation enables the steps to be built, starting with the first step.  Since you can see them so clearly,
you decide to jump to step forty two.  

The helicopter flies high enough so you can drop a tall pole that is the correct height for step forty two.  Then you
climb out on to it and celebrate the achievement.  You are a hero!  You have left all of those other suckers behind
by leaping forward while they slowly and doggedly build their plans.  Then you turn your focus forward to step forty
three.  Suddenly, the gap between forty two and forty three is a chasm.  There is no foundation supporting forty
three and guess what?  There is no place for that helicopter to land to pick you up and try that pole trick again.  
Worse yet, you have discovered that the world had become a rather wobbly place.  Balancing that tall thin pole to
keep it vertical to support you and your team and all the promises you have made to the marketplace is becoming
a mighty challenge.

As Judi Adler said, “Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a
time. They have no use for helicopters!”  If a helicopter pilot and a mountain climber both reached the same
summit, which one has the greater achievement?  Which one really understands and has overcome the challenges
of the mountain?  That foundation of knowledge and experience under step forty two is a weak and flimsy pole.  It
certainly cannot support adding more steps for you to proceed with your journey.  Now you are stuck.  You realize
that in order to go forward you have to go back and build the foundation that was required in steps four through
forty one.  To add to the challenge, you have to keep step forty two afloat and balancing precariously while you go
back and work on the earlier steps in the right order.  Do you have sufficient resource and capacity to take all of
this on, or will the effort cause you to falter permanently.

Assume you even make it back to step forty two with a new solid foundation behind you, you may find that you
have to completely rebuild step forty two as well.  This is because it was the wrong step, built on the wrong
foundation. In order for it to play its proper role in helping you get to your goal – step one hundred – it will need to
be rebuilt.  Meanwhile you have customers, employees, investors, and a lot of other resources and expectations
invested in what the original step forty two was promising.  Getting all of that back on track with your new
(“original”) foundational steps is another challenge and resource drain.

What does the helicopter plan produce?  

1.        A major disruption and diversion to a plan that had just become clear.  
2.        A major drain on resources as you first go back and rebuild the foundation and earlier steps while keeping
        the new step going in some fashion.  
3.        A major drain on resources while you rebuild the step forty two and managed to reset expectations that
        were created by it.  

You always have to come back and work on the steps you missed.  It takes twice as much energy to do this,
and very inefficiently.  Along the way, you will find that many of the steps you thought you had complete now have
to be redone. By finally following the correct sequence of steps you have built a new foundation and better
platform on which to move to the next step.  Old “completed” steps may have been built on shaky ground and
now need reworking.  This rework causes you to spend time and energy that takes you away from making
progress on the next step.  The combination of rework and parallel working on steps at different stages in the
process can be sufficient impedance to choke your project to a dead stop. Imagine if all that resource and time
had been devoted to the original plan?

The old adage, “less haste, more speed” seems apt advice to people who make that fateful helicopter plan
choice.  Large complex projects including, business startups, new ventures, product launches, and corporate
branding initiatives can all benefit greatly from leadership that understands and commits to the idea that you
need to slow down before you can accelerate.  By diligently following the plan you so carefully developed and
proved to be working, you will be in a better position to go faster later on when it really counts.  The kind of
speed that powers the momentum to drive your business to success comes from a solid foundation that is built on
planning, research, testing, practice, and leadership commitment to stay with the program.  

“But what about change?”, you might ask.  Certainly you need to adapt your plans and strategies and actions if
changing conditions would impact your project.  You will have a far greater ability to adapt to change and stay in
control of your plan if you follow the plan.  In the helicopter approach, what would happen if conditions changed
while you were standing on your flimsy pole at step forty two?  You’re barely staying upright and now you have to
adapt to a change?  By following through with all the steps in your plan you will:

1.        Be prepared to accelerate and adapt to change when it really counts.
2.        Make the most efficient use of resources to execute your project.
3.        Avoid costly rework and parallel activities.
4.        Significantly reduce the risk of failure and increase the assurance of success.

Every time you are tempted to call for that helicopter shortcut, make the choice instead to become a champion
and get on with it!


Patrick Smyth is a business navigator, coach and mentor to leaders of emerging and high growth businesses.  He
improves business performance through effective vision and strategy planning, leadership, and marketing.  His
focus on business outcomes, growth, objective setting, team building, and communications builds sustainable
productivity and growth. www.innovationhabitude.com
Your True North Business Navigator