Today the unusually heavy snow fall in the UK caused havoc. No surprises there. But where's the adaptive planning?

The majority of the media coverage has pointed to the authorities and accuses them of not being prepared despite the warning that the heavy snow was on its way. There is plenty of evidence that the authorities have been working very hard and to go with it plenty of evidence that some of their effort has had little effect. Who could argue that the authorities shouldn't adapt to such conditions? Of course they should. But shouldn't the public adapt too?

What about all the people who got in their cars and all the haulage businesses who decided their lorries should continue - business as usual and ended up blocking the M25 jack-knifed? And all those commuters who stood at the bus stop or waited on the train platform. Did they think to adapt their plans? Evidently not!

This happens in industry too. The team complains that the management or the business hasn't adapted to a situation that it had early notice of. This is rarely the case. More often than not the management is doing everything it can to adapt to changing circumstances but they cannot make that effective without the full support of the team, and the team isn't going to offer its support if they are disenfranchised by the management's apparent incompetence. Tricky!

Next time you watch a weather forecast on a Friday afternoon telling you there will be heavy snow falling across the whole of the UK the following Monday accompanied by a severe weather warning - yes the word severe means... well severe - maybe one should consider what one might do to adapt ones own plans rather than hoping that the nanny state will come to the rescue - considering there are 2 whole days in which to think about it.