A seasonal lesson of Light and Life

I admit it. I’m one of those people who dress up their houses for the Christmas Holiday season. I’m not apologising, I am just saying. Some do, some don’t do it. Some like it, some don’t.

I think it adds to the festivities, especially for those living in the northern half of the Northern Hemisphere, for whom the nights are getting longer, colder and darker. A few bight lights, okay, a lot of bright lights, at night can cheer one up.

I normally do look forward to getting home, but even more so with cheery lights to great me.

I could go on about colour coordination, lighting sequences etc., but the real reason I mention it is to do with Planning.

Now I think I have mentioned my rule of 7Ps, (Perfect Planning Prevents (very) Poor Performance, Probably) before. However, like all such rules, there are caveats and cautions.

So, when it can to planning the Holiday Season’s lighting scheme this year, I intended to emulate last years. A tasteful mixture of icy blue and white LED lights, plus a few relevant animal characters.

My son was volunteered to help me, which he did for a few hours. His was help very useful. But, it turned out that he had placed all but one of the stings of blue lights on one side of the garden. And had put no white lights there at all.

Change of plan!

A little thing but with major impact.

This to me emphasised the final P, “Probably”. As a military strategist, Helmuth von Moltke said; “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy”. Not that my son’s my enemy you understand. But it is equally true in domestic efforts as in business, or military for that matter, that even the most perfect plan, will need constant modification as real events occur and change outcomes.

As a former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Harold Macmillan, replied when asked what was the most difficult thing to deal with when planning his week, “Events dear boy. Events!”

Thus, it was that my plan for the lighting changed. All the garden was filled with blue lights. I even bought a (very cheap) archway, and covered that in blue lights. I then clothed the house in white lights and white ‘icicles’ effects.

This worked exceptionally well. With the reindeer and polar bear models as well (Don’t ask).

What it brought home is the level of flexibility we all need to successes.

We can, and always should, plan where we can, and normally will try to foresee potential alternative routes or actions requiring contingency planning.

But like every Budget process I’ve ever been involved with, the only certain thing is that, at the end of the budget period, virtually none of the amounts budgeted will be equal to the actual amount expensed or received.

Don’t get me wrong. I still am convinced that the 7Ps are the way to go. It is just that we also need to be nimble, agile and vigilant, to ensure that we ultimately get the outcome we are aiming for, even if it is not the route we thought we would take initially.

Do not get bogged down in the process to the extent you can’t adjust or amend the process to make the final goal.

Remember, “Shift Happens!” Be ready for it.