“What's your plan?”

Leadership

Jan 24

HB Weekly Leadership Brief

Week of January 26, 2026

January is where leadership launches. The planning begins and it's time to get back to the basics. This final week of January is about communicating the year's vision, reestablishing standards, providing clarity, and asking how best to support your staff.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
— Peter Drucker

“Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.”
— Stephen R. Covey

The Data: What the Research Is Telling Us

Clarity beats charisma at the start of the year: Harvard Business Review research shows that leaders who clearly communicate priorities, decision rights, and expectations at the beginning of a planning cycle see up to 30% higher team performance than those who rely on inspiration alone. Early clarity reduces rework, second-guessing, and burnout later in the year.
The first 6–8 weeks of the year disproportionately shape engagement: According to Gallup, employee engagement trajectories are often set early in the year based on whether leaders re-anchor purpose, reinforce standards, and reconnect work to meaning. Teams that report strong leadership direction in Q1 are 2.8x more likely to remain engaged through year-end.
Standards don’t demotivate—ambiguity does: A 2024 MIT Sloan study found that employees working under clear, consistently reinforced standards report lower stress and higher trust than those in “flexible but vague” environments. People don’t leave because the bar is high; they leave because the bar keeps moving without explanation.

A Quick Consult with Matt

In the Emmy-winning series, The Pitt, Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch is the Senior Emergency Attending Physician at Pittsburgh’s Trauma Medical Center. Dr. Robby is a calm, steady presence in a high-stakes ER where decisions must be made quickly and lives are on the line.

More than a brilliant clinician, he functions as a coach and mentor to younger doctors and residents, modeling how strong leadership shows up under pressure: clear expectations, steady accountability, and an unwavering focus on developing others, not just fixing problems.

One of the most consistent leadership moves you see from Dr. Robby is deceptively simple. When chaos hits, when mistakes happen, when emotions run high, he looks at his team and asks a single question: “What’s your plan?”

Not “Why did this happen?” Not “Who’s at fault?”

Just — what’s your plan?

That question does something powerful. It shifts people into ownership. It communicates trust without removing accountability. Dr. Robby doesn’t rescue his team, but he doesn’t abandon them either. He coaches in real time.

By asking “What’s your plan?” he’s training his people to think critically under pressure, anticipate consequences, and move from problem-spotting to disciplined action. Over time, that question builds confidence, competence, and judgment.

Leaders in every organization can learn from this. Too often, we unintentionally train our teams to bring us problems instead of plans—because we jump in too fast, correct too quickly, or take the wheel ourselves.

Asking “What’s your plan?” slows the moment just enough to develop leaders, not dependents. It’s a coaching move disguised as a question—and one of the fastest ways to build a stronger, more capable team.

Weekly Reflection

Take 10-20 quiet minutes and journal:

Where have I been available to my team but not clear with them?
What decision, expectation, or boundary would most improve momentum if I named it this week?
Who on my team needs more support — and who needs more ownership — from me right now?

Direct Application: This Week’s Reps

By the end of this week, complete all three:

Clarify one expectation - Pick one role, project, or relationship and clearly define what success looks like.
Address one small behavior - Don’t wait for a big problem. Small course corrections prevent big breakdowns.
Practice asking staff, “What's your plan” - Listen, ask questions, course correct where you need to

Model Spotlight: 5 Ps of Your Vision

A clear and compelling Vision can be captured and communicated through what we call the 5 Ps. When combined, these elements form a powerful elevator speech that helps others understand, believe in, and act on the vision.

1. Purpose: Why do we need to change? Purpose anchors the vision to meaning. It builds directly on the Case for Change and answers the question: Why does this matter now?

Script example: “We’re making this change because what got us here isn’t going to get us where we need to go, and staying the same is starting to cost us more than changing.”

2. Picture: People remember images more than words. A strong vision creates a metaphor or mental picture that sticks. Abraham Lincoln’s “A house divided cannot stand” created a powerful image that clarified the vision of unity.

Script example: “The picture I want you to have in your mind is a bridge — one that safely carries us from where we are today to where we need to be tomorrow, without burning the ground behind us.”

3. Plan: People can typically hold only three or four ideas in their working memory at once. Keep the plan simple and memorable. A one-page strategy can often do more than a 50-page report.

Script example: “We’re not trying to fix everything at once; we’re focusing on three clear steps this year, and we’ll build from there as we learn what works.”

4. Performance Measure: Vision must define what success looks like. How will we know we are winning? Clear metrics, dashboards, SMART goals, surveys, and consistent communication all reinforce credibility.

Script example: “We’ll know this is working when we see fewer handoffs, faster decisions, and better feedback from the people we serve — and we’ll share those results regularly.”

5. Part: This is the most critical — and often overlooked — element. People must know what part they play. Vision becomes ownership when individuals see how their contribution matters. At this point, it stops being your vision and becomes our vision.