When you’ve created your playbook…. burn it.

The alignment that you’ve created around a shared vision and way-of-working is the true value.

I’ve found that my most successful projects are the ones where a team of people comes together to create a ‘playbook’ or ‘blueprint’ for what they want to achieve or how to create something new. That’s included integration playbooks, go-to-market strategies, revenue management practices, and even working capital reduction projects. It’s now got to the point where I find clients invariably are now saying ‘we need a playbook’ for some new challenge.

The goal has moved from delivering the benefit to delivering the playbook.

In my experience creating a “playbook” has invariably delivered the desired benefit, but why was that?

If the primary benefit of a playbook is a documented strategy and process that anyone can implement, then the people involved in implementation don’t need to be involved in its development. For example, you could create the ‘integration blueprint’ in advance of deal completion, and then simply hand it over to the delivery team post-deal. I’ve seen that tried in both service-sector businesses and manufacturing firms and the result has consistently been poor.

When I look back, the playbooks were rarely if ever referred to by the core team.

Most value was delivered by the core team who rarely referred back to the document. The real reason for the success wasn’t the creation of a playbook… it was the creation of a small team who became experts, aligned to a shared vision, with all the details they needed to put the thinking into practice. Saying “we need a team of experts with a shared vision and practices” isn’t as neat as “we need a playbook”.

Perhaps we should create a new wave of ‘slow management speak’? Taking short cuts in what we tell each other can lead us in the wrong direction.

Sincerely,