What's Your Plan B?

By Mark Swanson

Just like modern-day warfare, the highly competitive telecommunications business is fought on the information battlefield, where information gathering, surveillance and communications are weapons. How you deploy these weapons in the fast-changing communications marketplace determines victory or defeat.

Even with the best plan of attack, theres no guarantee of success. Perhaps the great military strategist Helmuth von Moltke, who led the Prussian army in the late 1800s, offers the key to todays success: No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

I first learned this military strategy as a West Point cadet. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army, I became convinced of this century-old truth not only in a military setting, but in todays business world as well. In fact, just a few weeks ago when commenting on an industry blog asking for the best advice for telecom agents, I thought about von Moltkes strategy and responded accordingly: Have a Plan B.

I was surprised a few days later when an agent replied, What do you mean by a Plan B? It got me thinking. Does it mean to create redundant business plans? Should you draft multiple scenarios with multiple contingencies? Is it even possible to have a Plan B?

Every plan that we develop is based on a static environment in which information exists in a moment of time. As the situation unfolds around you whether you are on the battlefield or in the marketplace you must gather information, assimilate the changes, evaluate options and rapidly communicate adjustments to your plan. If you continue to act like the situation is static, youll most likely fail.

A fellow West Point classmate, who is now a U.S. Army Brigadier General, said it best in one of our recent conversations about military strategy: Some leaders develop a plan and stick with it regardless of the situation. Others adjust as they go based on whats happening around them. Those who are successful are the ones that have the ability to continuously change based on the dynamics of the battlefield.

We operate in an uncertain industry. Products and companies that did not exist five years ago are now heavyweights. Companies that we thought would always be leaders are gone. We cant predict what the landscape will look like in the next few years. We can only react.

Being agile doing everything possible to respond to the changing dynamics of our industry is your Plan B. But that doesnt mean you shouldnt prepare. As a business leader, you must create conditions in your organization to be ready to develop and execute Plan B when Plan A is no longer applicable.

How do you go from Plan A to B (or C, D, etc.)? Here are some tips to arm yourself now:

Plan A almost always is eclipsed by a Plan B. Those who stick to Plan A and are not flexible enough to see a better option often miss out on industry-changing opportunities. I have made a career out of finding the Plan B that changes things because Im willing to accept the risk that revised plans demand. Ive learned that although we cannot always see the end game, the end game is there. Being agile is the key to any successful plan. When it comes to information, getting it, organizing it, acting on it and communicating it to your team will win on the battlefield and in business.

Mark Swanson is chairman and CEO of Telovations Inc., a provider of hosted PBX and SIP trunking solutions. He has more than 20 years of management experience in technology-related organizations. He has founded and served as president/CEO of two IT services companies, both of which were acquired by larger companies. Swanson has a masters degree in business administration from the Georgia Institute of Technology.