When something bad happens that NEVER happens, and it screws up your time-tested business process, how much effort do you invest to make changes and minimize the chances of it ever happening again?
That was the strategic thinking topic for a recent dinner conversation.
After sitting through another organization's design process that went bad in a way it never had over many years of use, we were diagnosing what could have been done differently. And while I was sitting there observing the whole time, it wasn't completely clear to me what I would have done differently:
- Would I have isolated a problematic, unnecessarily detailed team member to try and salvage the effort of the participants who were being productive?
- Would I have called time out to try to pin down the apparent leader of the effort on who the real decision maker was?
- Would I have improvised a quick exercise to make the group prioritize the seemingly never ending and odd array of constraints the problematic team member kept introducing?
Or all three?
Fortunately, it wasn't my deal so I didn't have to decide.
In talking with the facilitators later, I learned that this design session's arc was unlike any encountered in many years of using their process.
While I was quick to offer strategic thinking about what they could change in their business process, I ultimately called B.S. on myself. I told them they should dismiss my advice because I spend WAY TOO MUCH time fixing one-off bad facilitation situations that will never happen again. Doing that makes me feel better and more comfortable, but it may really be wasted effort that never delivers real benefit.
So, no strategic thinking answers today.
Only that nagging question: When is it worth the effort to fix the once in a lifetime crappy situation with a business, just in case it might happen again?
It's a strategic thinking topic 'm mulling over, as I'm sure they are.
What do you think? – Mike Brown
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