Teamwork Tuesdays: Dr. Gary Klein — The Premortem Strategy

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Most teams spend a lot of time asking, “How can we make this plan succeed?” Dr. Gary Klein suggests asking a different question: “Imagine this plan has failed. What went wrong?”

This is the premortem strategy.

Before launching a project, making a major decision, or beginning an important initiative, the team imagines that it is several months or years in the future and the project has been a complete failure. Then, instead of defending the plan, everyone identifies the reasons they believe it failed.

This approach is powerful because teams often become overly optimistic once they commit to an idea. People may hesitate to point out weaknesses because they don't want to be negative, challenge the leader, or slow things down. A premortem gives people permission to identify potential problems before they become real problems.

For leaders, the goal isn't to create fear or convince everyone that the plan will fail. It's to uncover blind spots, risks, assumptions, and unintended consequences while there is still time to do something about them.

Something to Think About

Ask your team:

“Imagine we're looking back six months from now, and this project failed. What caused it?”

Then listen carefully.

Great leaders don't just plan for success—they prepare for what could get in the way of it.

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