Plans in Indian contexts succeed or fail partly based on relationship support for execution. Technical quality matters, but plans without relationship support may fail regardless of quality. Whose plan it is, who backs it, what relationship network supports it—these affect execution success. Plans associated with influential people, backed by strong relationships, and supported by networks working for their success have better prospects.
Plans without such backing may languish. Building relationship support is therefore planning activity, not separate from planning. Consultation, buy-in building, and stakeholder management are part of effective planning. Implementation depends on people, and people work through relationships.
When planning, build relationship support: engage key people early, understand their concerns, address their interests, create shared ownership. A relationally-supported plan of moderate technical quality may outperform a technically superior plan that lacks support.
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