CEO coach to the Fortune 500: How leaders can use a simple strategy called ‘beat the plan’ to speed decision-making and build trust

Too often leaders—even the best ones—can get stuck on little power struggles and personality conflicts. It’s understandable and human but not in service to our goals.

The strategy I often refer the leaders I coach to is called “Beat the plan.” When you have many important issues and not infinite time, “Beat the plan” is a way for leaders and teams to speed up decision making and, at the same time, increase quality of those decisions and camaraderie of the team. I refined the approach from Sylvia Mathews Burwell.