Question 7 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask, the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 14

The likelihood is that as soon as your idea struck you, you jumped to answering this question. I know this has happened to me dozens of times.  Though hopefully you’ve now taken some meaningful time to consider the other six questions that are ideally answered between seeing your vision and designing your implementation plan.

The answer to this question takes many forms (to-do lists, flow charts, diagrams, business plans etc.). In the end, this is the nuts and bolts, gritty, organizing, detailed, getting-down-to-it planning phase. But after answering the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask, your planning phase is about designing an informed strategy. Believe it or not, far too many plans are uniformed, poorly considered, and put together in the haste of creative inspiration.

Your first idea was likely not your best.  The process of Innovative Design reveals hidden challenges, new opportunities, points of collaboration, and deeper levels of creativity and leadership abilities than you ever imagined possessing. All of this can now go into your planning process and make the management of implementing your vision much more possible.

As you write your to-do list or draft your business plan, keep a few tips in mind: 1) keep having fun, 2) remain open to new ideas and the inevitability of change, and 3) be willing to return to earlier questions to further clarify what it is you’re about to do. Move forward, implement, and bring your vision to fruition. But remember, the design process and the questions of Innovative Leaders never seize. The next Break Through is always beckoning you on the horizon.