Exercise: A proposal you can explain on one hand

Time: About 20 minutes

Choose one change you would like to make in a team, a classroom or everyday life. Name the people whose support you need.
Write a short answer for each finger. Notice where you have described a wish, an assumption or a question that still needs investigating.
Check the connections: does this cause explain the problem, does the plan address it, and could the resources produce the benefits you expect?
Use the first prompt to find weak points. Follow up on one of them with someone who knows the situation or with evidence you can check.
Revise your proposal and explain it aloud in two minutes. Can your listener follow all five parts? What would they need to know before deciding?

How it works

Problem: Describe what needs changing, who is affected and what tells you it is a problem.
Cause: Examine why it is happening. Separate what you know from explanations you still need to test.
Plan: Say what you propose to do and how it addresses the cause.
Resources: Identify the time, people, money, tools and permission the plan needs. Use actual information where you have it and label estimates.
Benefits: Explain what should improve, for whom and how you will notice. Include costs or disadvantages people will have to weigh.

Things to watch

A familiar explanation of the cause still needs checking. A plan aimed at the wrong cause can keep everyone very busy.
“We will find the time” deserves a closer look in the Resources section.
Benefits may differ between groups. Make those differences visible when asking for support.
Choose the AI’s role deliberately. It can question your draft, suggest possibilities or help explain it. Notice what you have delegated and what you need to understand yourself.

Optional ways to involve AI

Use these examples as a starting point. Replace the square-bracketed fields with your own material.

Find the weak finger

Examine my proposal through Five Fingers: Problem, Cause, Plan, Resources and Benefits. Check the connections between the parts. Identify assumptions, missing information and possible alternative causes. Use only the facts I supply as established facts; mark your own suggestions as possibilities to investigate.

Ask up to three questions that would most affect whether this proposal is worth pursuing. Do not invent a budget, timeline or evidence to make it look complete.

PEOPLE WHO NEED TO CONSIDER IT:
[Name the audience and what matters to them.]

MY FIVE FINGERS:
Problem: [What needs changing?]
Cause: [Why do I think it is happening?]
Plan: [What do I propose?]
Resources: [What will it take?]
Benefits: [What should improve, and for whom?]

RELEVANT INFORMATION:
[Add facts, constraints and anything you still need to check.]

Help me explain the proposal

Help me turn the revised proposal into an explanation I can give aloud in about two minutes. Make all five parts understandable and connect them to the audience’s concerns. Keep uncertainties and trade-offs visible. Use the information already supplied; ask if an essential detail is missing. Then explain your choices of emphasis so I can judge them and put the wording into my own voice.

REVISED PROPOSAL:
[Paste your revised Five Fingers outline.]

The thinking behind it

A proposal can sound excellent until someone asks what it will take. Five Fingers gives you a way to work through it: Problem, Cause, Plan, Resources and Benefits. Count them on your hand before asking someone else to lend you theirs.

Count through five questions before presenting a proposal. What needs changing? Why is it happening? What will you do? What will it take? What will improve for the people you are addressing? Notice which finger is doing rather little work.

Tool from the same chapter: Strategic Thinking Pyramid

Five Fingers