The planning “mirage”: when your business priorities look clear but aren’t

The GrowthCatalyst Team
1 day ago
7 min read

Updated: 14 hours ago

mirage in a desert. The illusion of shimmering water on the horizon — Planning in business can be just like this mirage - great to look at but no substance

Mirage: an unrealistic hope or wish that can’t be achieved.

Here’s how most planning sessions in business end…leaders sit back and congratulate each other on a job well done. Clear vision statements, defined objectives, measurable goals. Everything’s perfect.

On paper.

But here's what we've observed from working with SME leaders: having a plan that looks clear and having a plan that actually provides confidence and clarity are two very different things.

Here’s what happens in many businesses where leaders have created what appears to be the perfect plan...one that’s comprehensive, well-researched and properly documented. When we start asking team members what the business is really trying to achieve, the responses are, well, varied. In some cases, all we get is the proverbial crickets.

That's the Planning Mirage—the illusion of clarity that can be more dangerous than having no particular plan at all.

Key Takeaways

The plans you create for your business are only as good as the effort you put into making sure they're clear to others in the business
Don't let your plans be too complex, don't just assume everyone will "get" your plans and put at least as much effort into execution as you do into creating those plans.
Be clear on your purpose and vision, prioritise ruthlessly, simplify with intent and focus on quality communication.
A key question that really focuses the mind? If you could only do three things this year to move your business forward, what would they be?
Don't forget - quality planning and even better qualtity execution is the basis for growth that's sustainable over time.

As always, please feel free to share this Insight with clients, colleagues and others in your network.

The mirage effect - when your planning priorities in business aren't clear

In nature, a mirage appears real from a distance, and it might even look like exactly what you need. But as you get closer, you realise there's nothing there.

Planning mirages work the same way. Ask the leaders, and everything seems clear and aligned. The plan makes sense and the priorities are obvious. The direction is set.

But the real test is this: ask, say, five people what your business is trying to achieve this year.

If you’re lucky you’ll only get five different answers. We say "only", because often you’ll get more as people grapple for an answer that makes sense to them.

That’s when you're looking at a mirage.

How planning mirages happen

It’s not because leaders are careless or uncommitted (though to be fair, that could the case). More commonly, they happen because creating real clarity across a business is harder than it looks.

Much harder.

Here are just some of the things that could derail your chances of clarity…

Plans are too complex

Many plans try to capture everything. Every opportunity, every initiative, every good idea that came up during planning discussions. When that happens, the result is a plan that's comprehensive (probably too comprehensive) but absolutely not clear across the business.

The thing is, when everything is important, nothing is important. And when every initiative is a priority, there are no real priorities.

Assuming too much

the word translation spelled out in scrabble tiles on a red background — Sometimes, planning intent is lost in translation

Leaders often assume that because something is obvious to them, it's obvious to everyone else in the business. They overlook the hard work of translating their intent into language and priorities that resonate across the team.

It happens a lot…leaders who can articulate their plans and direction with total clarity, with teams who genuinely don't understand what they're supposed to be focused on.

Ordinary execution

This is quite probably the most common cause. Plans get developed with a “possibilities” mindset but need to be converted into operational mode to enable effective execution. When that translation is lacking, plans remain more aspirational than realistic.

The practical result is that team members end up making day-to-day decisions without the clear framework that connection to the bigger picture provides. It might seem that they're being difficult or resistant but they’re not…they simply don't have the clarity they need to execute effectively.

The good news is all these things are highly preventable and come with their own early warning systems.

What are the warning signs?

Here are the signals we look for:

Inconsistent messaging

Different leaders naturally want to describe plans in their own words. But what sounds like minor variations in language could actually be major differences in understanding so it’s important to try to keep messaging across the business as consistent as possible, even if you have to resort to some scripting of the key points.

Reluctance to make decisions

If, when faced with choices, team members constantly escalate decisions upward it’s usually because they're not sure what the priorities really are. That’s a sure sign that plans haven’t been communicated clearly enough to everyone.

Confusion over priorities

When initiatives haven’t been appropriately prioritised, you have a situation where everything feels urgent. Every project is critical. The business is busy but not necessarily productive.

Resource conflicts

When there’s constant battles over budget, time, and people effective execution is next to impossible. This, again, usually happens because prioritising initiatives hasn’t received the attention it really needs.

These signs surface in most businesses from time to time, so it’s important to recognise you’re not alone in seeing them in yours. Not only that, they’re actually pretty easy to fix.

Creating real clarity (and the confidence that comes with it)

The right response to the planning “mirage” isn't more planning—it's smarter, better-grounded planning. Specifically, it's planning that creates real clarity rather than the illusion of clarity.

Start with purpose

Real planning clarity begins with a clear understanding of why your business exists and what it's ultimately trying to achieve. Not just financially, but fundamentally.

the word why handwritten in block letters in blue ink on a yellow sticky note sticky taped to a white background — Planning has to start from some place. Your business purpose is that place.

When purpose is genuinely clear, it becomes a filter for everything else and the basis for a more logical flow to planning.

Why?

Because decisions become easier in a purpose-driven framework. And when there’s multiple opportunities and potential initiatives (which is all the time), real, impactful priorities become obvious. Teams understand not just what they're doing, but why it matters.

Be clear on your vision

If your purpose is your “why”, your vision is your “what”. Being clear on what you want your business to achieve and look like in the future, say five years out, is another critical element in identifying and prioritising opportunities.

Make sure your vision is both aspirational and achievable. There’s no point in setting lofty ambitions if you realistically have no chance of achieving them.

Identify specific opportunities, then prioritise ruthlessly

Go ahead and identify as many opportunities as you want. Brainstorming the possibilities is an important part of planning – it helps you miss nothing, leaving no stone unturned. Don’t critique as you go….simply capture the ideas, no matter how left-field they seem.

Once you have your list, be as ruthless as you can in prioritising your many opportunities. Rate them for impact and effort. The higher the impact of an opportunity in terms of helping you achieve your vision and the lower the effort of making it happen, the higher priority that opportunity should be.

Be realistic and ruthless at this stage. Keep in mind that every opportunity can’t be equally impactful nor equally easy (or difficult) to implement.

And it may not surprise you to know this step will probably take some time…

Simplify brutally

The best plans are simple enough that everyone can understand and remember them. If you need a thirty-page deck to explain your plans, they’re probably too complex.

Ask yourself: Can every person in your business explain what you're trying to achieve in two sentences? If not, you have work to do.

Test for understanding

Don't assume across-the-board clarity—test for it. You can’t possibly “just know” that everyone gets it. Regularly check whether your team's understanding matches your intent.

Ask questions. Listen carefully. Be prepared to clarify, not just communicate.

And make yourself ok with feedback. If you’re communicating properly you’ll get it anyhow, so you may as well be ready to either take it on board, or explain clearly why a suggestion or idea may not be appropriate in the context of the bigger plan.

Connect plans and execution

Establish clear connections between the intent behind your plans and the daily work that everyone carries out. Help people see how their specific responsibilities connect to the bigger picture. Not only will it lead to higher success rates in realising the opportunities you decide to pursue, it will also foster higher engagement among your team.

This isn't about creating more processes—it's about creating clearer connections.

The cost of mirages

Make no mistake…there’s a real cost in a lack of plan clarity. People might work hard but you can bank on the fact they’ll wonder if they're working on the right things.

Your leaders also get frustrated by execution that’s not up to expectations.

Energy gets too thinly spread across too many priorities.

Most dangerously, a planning mirage creates the illusion of progress while actually creating a roadblock.

The clarity advantage

Everything changes when you have real clarity around business priorities rather than an illusion of clarity.

Decisions are made faster and with more confidence. Employees show initiative because they understand where the business is heading and why. Resources are allocated more effectively because priorities are clear and well communicated.

But perhaps most importantly, genuine clarity creates the foundation for sustainable growth. It gives you the confidence to say yes to the right opportunities and no to those you know deep down aren’t worth pursuing.

The question that cuts through

There’s a really simple, but sometimes confronting, question that separates real clarity from planning mirages:

If we could only accomplish three things this year to move our business forward, what would they be?

It’s a great question that really puts the process of prioritising opportunities into proper focus. Those around you who are involved in the planning process will for sure have different answers to the question. But that’s ok, because it really opens up debate on what’s most important to the business on its quest for sustainable, purpose-driven growth.

And remember, planning is, at its core, about creating understanding that drives action and propels the business in the right direction.