People that go through The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan approach to onboarding generally get to the end and comment something like "That was just common sense. But I really found the structure valuable." Structure is a comfort when dealing with unknowns like a new job, new role, or new circumstances. We're big believers in controling what you can, so you have more confidence to deal with what you can't control.
However, in a crisis, this logical, sequential approach is woefully inadequate. You don't have time to go through all the steps, step-by-step, in the right order. In these cases it's essential to take an iterative approach to the situation, getting as much as you can vaguely right as soon as you can, and then re-looking, re-planning, and yes, re-acting as you learn more.
In the real world, you're going to cycle between situations that allow for a sequential approach and those that require an iterative approach. Our suggestion is to prepare as much as you can in advance. (Preparation breeds confidence.) Put your sequential plans in place. Implement them as you can. But, be ready to switch to an iterative approach as the situation requires.
