“You wanna learn the first rule… you’d know if you ever spent a day in your life… You never open your mouth till you know what the shot is.” – Ricky Roma

If you’ve seen the movie Glengarry Glen Ross*, you may remember that one.  True, it’s not as legendary as Alec Baldwin’s speech but it points out a valuable lesson when it comes to transformation and change.  It’s an excerpt from a rant by sales rep, Ricky Roma (played by Al Pacino), to his business manager (John Williamson played by Kevin Spacey), after Williamson blew a sale by jumping, uninvited, into a conversation Roma was having with a prospect.  Williamson thought he was helping but in truth he didn’t know enough of the background or the relationship to know what really was going on. Watch (note: explicit language)

“Knowing what the shot is” is critical when making decisions in your organization, especially those which will have an effect on people… so you know, pretty much every decision you make.  When you’re starting a new project or venturing into any new territory, it is important to make sure you get a lay of the land before you dive in.  I know this sounds like common sense but do you really do it?  I’m going to say “probably not.”

Yeah, you think about it – you might even talk to a few others in the “decision-making” pay grade to see what they think.  But the answers are usually the same.

“Well, there’s never going to be a perfect time to do this so let’s just get going.  We’ll close the gaps as we go.”

Sound familiar?  This is what decision makers say all the time, right?  Unfortunately, it’s a cop out (and I’m not sure you realize it).  They’re right that there’s rarely a perfect time for change (whether it’s the introduction of new programs, products, or services or the deployment of new technologies, policies, processes or the restructuring of something that exists already).

I’m not suggesting for a second that we put our ideas on hold so we can put together a blue ribbon panel to spend more time investigating.  Not at all.  What I am saying is that you need to be smart about what you’re doing and being smart means “knowing what the shot is.”

Maybe you know your organization really well already.  Yes?  Then use that knowledge and insight as a lens for your planning.  It’ll help you to figure out how to get things done successfully.

And if you don’t already know the shot.  Spend some time and effort right now to get that figured out.  It’ll pay you back in spades down the road.  Trust me.  When you know what the shot is, then you’ll know what moves to make, and not to make.  And that’s key to getting things right.

* I haven’t seen the play so I can’t confirm the specifics of the Roma Rant on stage.