Originally attributed to Bob Carter, the saying: “Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part” was introduced to me by my business coach. The saying really made me think hard about this subject and how to address it. If you haven’t read my last article, ‘The Art of the ‘Reverse Plan’ yet, you might want to check it out before you dive into this one.

Let’s start with a couple of questions.

How often has another person you're working with failed to plan correctly, and suddenly the pressure has landed on you to sort it out?
How often have you found yourself firefighting a situation because of somebody else’s incompetence?

What did you do?

Did you carry it all on your shoulders, do whatever it took to put the train back on the tracks, and then take the issue up with the person afterwards? We’ll call that option one.
Did you park whatever essential work you were doing, work with the person to put things right (or delegate somebody you trust to help them), and then take the issue up afterwards? That’s option two.
Or – option three - did you confront the person then and there, make it clear that their lousy planning is not your emergency, and put the pressure squarely back into their lap, leaving them in no uncertain terms it’s their issue to sort out?

As a leader, I know it’s tempting to go for option one or two because when someone you’re working with has screwed up so badly – especially if it’s somebody on your own team – you’ll want to make certain that the solution is handled thoroughly, delivered correctly, and disruption to the project and the other members of your team are kept to a minimum. Arguably, that’s what a responsible leader would do.

But let’s give this a bit more thought.

What will you accomplish by stepping in and taking responsibility for someone else's foul-up?

Okay, you'll have made sure the problem was dealt with as quickly as possible, and in the eyes of the majority, that's the hard yards of a leader’s role, to step up to the plate and put things right whenever the wheels fall off.

However, if you’re a true leader who has confidence in your leadership, respect for your own time, and knows you’ll never get the best out of your team members or anyone else you work with if you swaddle them in cotton wool, wouldn’t option three be the proper way to go?

After all, if you take option one, what’s the message you’re sending? It doesn’t matter if you don’t do your job correctly; I’m the kind of selfless leader who will always put out a net to catch you when you fall.

Or option two: don’t worry if you screw up, because I'll stop what I'm doing or get somebody else to stop what they're doing, hold your hand, and we'll put things right together?

Yes, there can be times when either of those options is most appropriate. For example, if the person who's let you down is usually sharp, conscientious, and totally on top of things, in which case it's reasonable to put their failure down to a glitch in the matrix and do whatever you have to do to support them. Although you still need to get to the bottom of what went wrong.

Maybe they made a genuine miscalculation or oversight? Maybe someone they were relying on let them down? Perhaps they didn't have all the tools needed to make their part of the plan happen, or it was outside their abilities, or they already had too many other tasks to juggle, in which case it would:

Be your responsibility as a leader to have made sure that didn’t happen, and
Their responsibility to let you know, before the nasty stuff hit the fan, that they needed help or couldn’t do what was required.

Finally, of course, there's the possibility that no one wants to consider, but you're going to have to if the problem they've caused for you is critical enough: They’re incompetent.

Let’s be clear on this. If the person is one of your employees, and it's become increasingly apparent that they're not up for the job, you've got to let them go. I've already discussed moving under-performing employees out of their roles in a previous article, but here's a quick recap:

Never be reluctant to move someone out of a role because, nine times out of ten, your business will benefit from it. If they're typically a decent employee who does what's required of them and doesn't slack, moving them into a new role somewhere else in your organisation might be all that's necessary to get them motivated again.

On the other hand, if they're consistently underperforming because they don't care and they're not committed to your business, make it clear that isn't an attitude you're going to tolerate, and your company is not where they belong. Follow the procedures to ensure the process of letting them go is as fair, smooth and amicable as possible, but show them the door as quickly as possible. Your other employees will respect you for it and, even if the person you've released doesn't realise it at the time, you'll have done them a favour too. Having the confidence to make that kind of decision is what being a good leader is all about.

Suppose the person is external to your company. Maybe they’re from another company you've teamed up with, a freelancer you've brought in to work on a project, or a supplier who’s had almost a month to deliver something you’re relying on and then, when it arrives, you discover that what they’ve given you is worse than useless. The knock-on effect is you now have to spend several days you don’t have sorting their ineptitude out before you can get on with doing your bit, so your own plans and timescales go out the window. And if that story sounds so detailed you’re thinking it must have happened to me, you’re absolutely right. The issue we had in this case was also very much related to the subject of Equal Business Stature (EBS) that I talked about in a recent article.

In all those examples, the external party’s bad planning is, without doubt, their responsibility to clear up. It doesn't reflect on your abilities; it reflects on theirs. However, if the situation they’ve created is so dire you’ve got no choice but to step in to put it right (as in my own case), it can eventually work out all the better for you because:

It highlights how much more effective you are.
Controls the situation before it turns into an even bigger headache for you and your people, and (even if you're never inclined to use it)
It gives you a psychological edge in the relationship because that external person will always know you pulled them out of the fire.

But, if their bad planning continues to be your emergency, refer back to 'show them the door as quickly as you can' (making sure all the contractual boxes are ticked, of course.)

The bottom line

You're a leader. You have more than enough to deal with already. You are responsible for choosing the best team, giving them the right tools, and empowering them to get the job done. It's also your responsibility to select the external agencies and freelancers you work with just as carefully.

But it's not your place to make up for anybody's shortfalls, so – even if the problem is so big you've no choice but to sort it out yourself – always hold the person or people who got it wrong accountable.