Just what exactly are you intending?

Of all the questions you can ask someone who is planning, initiating or delivering a major project, then how about ‘what are you intending’?

By asking this question you are inviting him or her to share what they hope the outcome will be. What will change with the asset, policy or business change you are creating? The focus of the question encourages them to look beyond the project itself to frame what people will be doing as a result.

Gary A. Klein in his 1999 MIT Press book: Sources of Power – How People Make Decisions identifies seven types of information that are needed to convey intent:

1. The purpose of the task – the kind of vision/mission that excites and engages people
2. The objective of the task – what the successfully completed task will look like (as a representation or image)
3. The sequence of steps in the plan – not a schedule or a work breakdown structure but rather the elements that need to be in place in order to achieve the outcome
4. The rationale for the plan – why the sequence of the steps and what is their significance. This helps with understanding and also frames when and how you might deviate from it
5. The key decisions that may have to be made – big projects being essentially a series of decisions. Understanding the priorities and anticipating these decisions helps focus on what you need to make them
6. What are your antigoals – complex projects by their nature are generators of unintended consequences. What in particular do you need to avoid? Have you defined (at a high level) what elements of scope you have deliberately excluded from your plan? There’s no better way to manage stakeholder expectations in an ethical way
7. Constraints and other considerations – what do you need to watch out for and what are the limitations in terms of people’s autonomy to act or in terms of resources.

Communicating intent may not always be easy but the prize is well worth the effort. If your people really understand what you are intending it will equip them with the information they need to make decisions; motivate and encourage them to engage with the project; provide them with the courage and the conviction to raise their hand and alert you to things that are going off course.

As part of a recent research exercise, I researched a number of strategic outline business case documents. By way of example, let me share two examples with you. Both are intended to make the case for business transformation. One of them does a far more effective job of communicating intent than the other. Judge for yourself:

Example 1: West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust Acute Transformation

Example 2: Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust – Securing a Sustainable Future for our Hospitals

(With thanks to Elmar Kutsch, whose great book The Art of Organisational Resilience, introduced me to Gary Klein’s work)

Jonathan Norman
Knowledge Manager