Thursday, 8.57pm
Sheffield, U.K.
In boxing, they say it’s the punch you don’t see coming that knocks you out. In the wider world, the reality we ignore or deny is the one that weakens our most impassioned efforts toward improvement. – Katherine Dunn
Think of a situation, a problematic one.
Struggling to come up with one? Just have a look at the news – perhaps the productivity challenge that seems to afflict so many parts of the economy.
Why don’t things just work?
The larger operations get, the less nimble they are – elephants don’t dance, as the saying goes.
Managers in organisations find themselves in situations that they consider problematic. What tends to happen?
The most common response is increasing paralysis. Things can’t happen because other things need to happen first. And those other things require the first things to happen.
The Economist has an article about the need for countries in Europe to increase defence spending.
The recommended approach is to spend more money on tanks and drones and interceptor missiles.
But that needs more actual money.
Instead, a number of countries are using accounting techniques – reclassifying existing spending as defence spending, such as defence-related pensions.
Which is all very well if you want to hit a target. It’s much less useful if you want to actually defend yourself.
I don’t know if paralysis is the right term, there’s a lot of activity but no actual movement.
It’s the opposite of a duck, all flap but no glide.
At the other end of the scale is demolition, or what is now referred to as “delete” on the other side of the pond.
It’s more common in commercial settings where a new boss comes in and fires lots of people or sells off parts of the company.
It’s a form of surgery – cut off the parts that are diseased and what’s left has a chance to survive.
That assumes that the person in charge knows how to do surgery and isn’t hacking at random.
And, of course, that the patient survives once the surgery is done.
If you speak to insiders you realise that the medical system is not there to help you, it’s there to make money.
Far too many procedures are unnecessary.
We should really try and avoid hospitals altogether – the best defence is to stay healthy.
These first two strategies are the ones managers reach for first.
The third one, which they should reach for, is simple, but not easy.
It’s trying to improve a situation, rather than trying to find a solution.
Let’s take an example that comes up again and again in my experience.
You have a data problem of some kind – you need information to meet some obligation.
The first thing people do is look for a system – is there an app for that?
That’s looking for a solution – a one-stop shop, a magic bullet.
Magic isn’t real.
What’s real is that we do things a certain way right now.
We need to deliver something that we don’t do yet.
How do we improve what we’re doing so that we can deliver this new thing?
Improvement takes time, patience and understanding. You have to go to where the work is being done, see how it’s being done, and learn your way into making improvements.
Some people are too busy to take the time to make things better.
They are also too busy to have the time to learn what’s possible.
And I don’t really know how to address that situation – when people are unwilling or unable we either have to accept a paralysed situation or use coercive power.
And that’s no fun for anyone.
Trying to improve things is hard, unsexy, valuable work.
And, when it works, it can be fun.
Cheers,
Karthik Suresh
Handcrafted insight 