Why it is called catchball
The image is deliberate. A plan is not handed down and caught once; it is thrown, caught, adjusted and thrown back. Each pass improves the plan with knowledge from the level that will carry it out and removes targets that cannot be resourced.
How a catchball round works
- Leadership proposes a small number of breakthrough objectives with draft targets.
- The next level responds with how it would contribute, what resources and support it needs, and where the target looks unrealistic.
- Leadership adjusts targets, priorities or resources in light of the response.
- The exchange repeats down each level, and back up, until every level has agreed targets and means.
- Commitments are recorded, often on an X-matrix or a goal tree, with owners and dates.
What good catchball looks like
- It is genuinely two-way: targets change as a result of it.
- It covers means as well as targets: how the goal will be reached, not just the number.
- It is time-boxed, typically a few weeks during annual planning, so it does not become endless negotiation.
- It produces commitments people are willing to be reviewed against monthly.
Catchball and daily management
Catchball happens during planning, but the commitments it produces are reviewed in the strategy review and show up as projects and measures in tier meetings. If a Tier 3 meeting finds a goal consistently off track, that is a signal the catchball missed a constraint, and the plan should be revisited rather than quietly abandoned.
Common failures
- Targets announced, with "catchball" used only to tell people what they are.
- Negotiation over numbers without any discussion of the means.
- No record of the agreed commitments, so the next review has nothing to check against.