Do you manage/lead 2, 20, 200, 2,000 or any multiple thereof? No matter the number, how you manage what you think, what you want and how you implement does matter to all stakeholders. As we grow in positions of responsibility, we’re asked more and more to LEAD, to have answers, to solve problems, to be there and take care of things. We are also asked to:
- Create new ideas
- Think outside the box
- Find better ways to operate
- Stimulate change
- And a list of other ways to be more effective as a team, a department, a business, a community, a government—everywhere
CREATING CHANGE:
There is a great deal of accountability in creating change. Change is a natural part of life and all things must and will change—there is no escape. We change, our families change, our communities, relationships, jobs, associations, even our interests, our goals change—all of it is dynamically changing. As leaders, it is our job minimally to keep it at breakeven and, hopefully, to stay ahead of the curve, being more on the cutting edge than the bleeding edge.
It can be challenging to know which we will be achieving when we endeavor to make changes: taking on a new project, entering a new relationship, merging a company, buying a new piece of equipment, creating a new department, letting a team member go and on and on. In life and in business, our decisions are important to us and to everyone we touch.
CUTTING EDGE OR BLEEDING EDGE??
With the pressures of more change in play now than ever before and with much more on the way, how are we going to mitigate risk of the Bleeding Edge? Though the words Bleeding Edge and Cutting Edge are applied mostly to technology or manufacturing, the concepts can apply to decision making about anything.
Are we willing to risk unintended consequences so that a business might find itself having to recover from an idea that was not fully considered or collaboratively empowered? Overspending, poor cash flow habits or not hiring enough talent for a particular project or process can put everyone at risk. Any failed process, big or small, can be one step closer to losing your position.
Real example: Accounting personnel decided to cut 1 day a week from garbage service for a large apartment complex. As you can imagine, the unintended consequences of backup, spillage, complaints from tenants, hauler refusing to pick up additional loads plus the city government has its say along with penalties. Clearly, a bleeding-edge idea.
To assure that you increase your batting average, look straight into the eyes of the Law of Unintended Consequences, which those accounting personnel surely didn’t. It is easy for us to think our ideas will work—of course, we will succeed. We wouldn’t want it any other way. But Unintended Consequences will always be with us. The way to increase success is to embrace them, work around and through them.
“The law of unintended consequences has come to be used as an adage or idiomatic warning that an intervention in a complex system tends to create unintended, possibly undesirable outcomes.” (*) It can be referred to as Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will. As in the quote adapted from the Robert Burns poem: “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” (**)
MITIGATING THE RISKS OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
If you would like to avoid the “wish I’d thought of that” condition as much as possible, consider some techniques to increase your achievement level and enhance the well-being of those around you:
Release the idea that unintended consequences are negative.
General thought is that there are 3 versions:
- Unexpected drawbacks
- Perverse results
- Unexpected benefits
If/When there is a choice, focus on helping to create some additional benefit, as opposed to worrying about potential drawbacks and perverse results, though they may occur—we don’t want to be Pollyanna.
Two examples of global Unexpected Benefits:
- “The creation of “no-man’s lands” (during the Cold War, in places such as the borders between Eastern and Western Europe, and the Korean Demilitarized Zone) has led to large natural habitats. (*)
- “Also known as serendipity, an unexpected positive situation can manifest as an outcome. For instance, due to war or storms, ships that sank along coasts created artificial reefs.” (*)
Not to say you should gamble or be cavalier about your decisions; there can be a positive somewhere else. Do realize that there can be Unintended Benefits. We once had a part-time receptionist for one of our clients; that was the wrong position for her. We re-evaluated the resume and rehired her for a management position; she turned out to be the best COO we could find.
Unintended Consequences come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and levels of importance.
Don’t underestimate any of them. Hiring an inappropriate person for an important position because of politics, favoritism, friendship, a favor or whatever can be as devastating as a bomb exploding in the Engineering Department.
Ask whether there is a real problem to solve.
Often, an environment has evolved and changes are naturally occurring; in reality, they may be going in the right direction, just not the direction anyone expected. A metaphor for that is what happens when a baby first tries to walk: it falls down a lot and, though that is not a desired result, it is a sign that things are progressing.
Often, there may be a challenge but the cause may not be the magnitude that it’s thought to be.
You don’t have to tear down a building to find it. Individuals or outside relationships working at cross-purposes to the business, a project or a relationship can create situations. In a crisis, we can almost guaranty that a small but powerful number of these individuals are not on the same page with the business and/or the owners—some can be the reason why the business is not doing well.
Many times, it can be so disguised that it isn’t until those individuals have left that the rest of the team notices things are significantly better. We call that the “1 in 20 Rule” because just 1 person can upset the effectiveness of the other 19; many times, they don’t know what’s happening. Understand the lay of the land before you plow it under.
Embrace the concept that “it is not what you know but what you need to know that makes the difference.”
The “I know” part of us is not always our friend. With complex processes and interactions, it is not only in the details but in the additional information we have yet to secure—what lies around the corner. From my Medium article on the topic: “This capability of wanting to know more becomes critical and essential for success. By relying on historical perspectives and assumptions, we can miss the reality of the situation.” (***) Coming to grips with complexity, which is everywhere today, is essential. Realize that we have to be in a learning mode at all times. It is OK NOT TO KNOW.
When possible, run several scenarios concurrently—usually 2 or 3.
We’ve used this many times — in crisis management projects, mergers, and acquisitions, major system installations — with the results that there is normally another alternative that shows itself and meets the needs of the situation and the stakeholders better than original versions. It is much better than a “backup plan” because, if the first plan didn’t work, you still have to start over again and you will have lost all that time, which is almost always your biggest loss. Each of the 2 or 3 scenarios needs to be treated with the same amount of energy, interest and funds—you can’t opt out of a scenario as you need to take actions that support all of the scenarios. It takes thinking and it’s that thinking that can make the difference.
This approach can mitigate the risk of an owner, as an example, who is committed to the idea that selling the business is the only solution.
Let go of seeing problems or seeing things as problems.
It creates a fix-it or patch-it mindset. Please begin to see the whole situation. Like a car accident, see the whole thing, not just damages. Look at skid marks, talk with witnesses, consider what the drivers were doing before impact, reflect on the drivers’ destinations, determine how fast the drivers were going and on and on. Get a 3- to 4-dimensional view of it so you know what not to do next time or what to do if it happens again. What habits need to change?
Allow yourself to learn about the situation without prejudice or blame, especially of yourself, not unlike a friend that you want to know more about. A come alongside approach is imperative: be interested, compassionate and eager to know, without assumptions, attitudes or opinions. In the end, the situation will help create the picture needed to make the changes to bring the situation to where it needs to be.
BECOMING A LEADER OF THE FUTURE
As leaders and future leaders, we need to help communities, businesses and families to be more stable, growth-oriented, safe environments. We must assure that all stakeholders are cared for and protected; the best way to do that is to be constantly aware and upgrading the level of quality of the culture so unnecessary Unintended Consequences don’t ruin what works. Venturing forward, we need the right changes for the good of all, considering our perspective and the perspectives of the whole community. Be an active participant who is present and aware that change happens, that it might happen in its own time and in a way that meets the need and desires of the whole.
What will help make you and your projects, businesses you work for, communities you live in and relationships with family and friends’ relationships more satisfying and effective? Collaborative conversations make the difference – where all benefit, not just the one who talks the loudest. Effective interaction makes the difference in areas of change and risk. A “doing it together’ approach is almost always a key ingredient for success.
I hope this provides another way to see that we can all be part of the community, adding value and being proactive in preventing unnecessary chaos that change can bring. Don’t just fix the problem. Move the situation down the path to more success.
(*) Unintended Consequences, Wikipedia.
(**) “Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Dictionary.com
(***) Is Your Knowledge Holding You Back?—Rethinking the “I Know” Mentality, Mark H. Fowler, Oct 19, 2018. Medium.
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