Many times, we know we face certain challenges, but choose to ignore them as they seem insurmountable.
“Well we know that, but there is nothing we can do about it”…a quote from almost any management meeting. We all have challenges or obstacles that we have lived with for years but always put to one side because they are ‘too difficult’ or seem insurmountable.
What would actually be the effect if the obstacle was no longer in your way? Who in your organisation is tasked with figuring out exactly what effect the obstacle has on the critical success factors of your operation?
Everest before May 1953, a mile in 4 minutes before May 1954 could have been considered insurmountable obstacles, (a little poetic license as they would have been envisaged much earlier), and to be honest they were not obstacles that were holding back anything too major, but someone in each case worked out how to overcome.
As a side note, perhaps May would be a good month to overcome obstacles that have been the elephant in your management meeting rooms. Great name for a month…of hope!
There are two things to consider when faced by an issue.
- What is the ultimate consequence if the problem is not alleviated?
- What is the root cause of the problem?
If the answer to 1 clashes with or detracts from your mission, the problem has to be dealt with. Then, only by determining the root cause, can a path through, over or around it be found.
Here you go, 3 C’s (don’t you love the 3 C’s of this and that?). “Consider Causes and Consequences” in order to tackle issues. I suggest you map these out on a board, like those detective boards in police dramas. If the obstacle is a big one or has been around a long time and has thus far been ignored, don’t expect to map out the whole Cause – Consequence sequence in the management meeting, but get someone on to it. Invite them to reach out for input and bring the root cause and ultimate consequences to the meeting. You might be surprised at the results. Let me know below if you are surprised…
Don’t ignore the elephants any more. In the wild, we want them to thrive, but in your office, we need to pick them off, one by one. It may take a while and it may require some of that famous out-of-the-box thinking, but there will be a way to deal with them, or at least get the elephant working for you not against you, after all an elephant can move a lot of stuff.
<By-line>Terry Murphy ‘Saving the Planet, one charity at a time.’