crisanzai

I asked my team today about a policy and it just so happened the CEO of my company overheard my question. This lead to a conversation about why we had the policy in the first place. The simple answer to the question was “I was always told that this was the policy”. So instead of letting the issue go, the CEO answered “but why? Why is this the Policy” and that lead to the story of the two crock-pots.

I’m paraphrasing from memory here, but here’s the basic story- A woman had a recipe for roast and her recipe included cooking the roast in two crock-pots. When asked about why she used two crock-pots, the woman replied “That’s the way my mother always did it”. One day she was curious and asked her mother why she used two crock-pots for the recipe. “well”, the mother replied “the crock-pots I had were too small and I couldn’t fit the roast into just one of them”. The woman’s crock-pots were larger than her mother’s and she could fit the roast into one crock-pot.

After this story was told, which basically causes one to think and ask “why” or “what is the root cause”, our team ended up finding out what the root cause was, took action, and ultimately changed the policy.

It’s always important to ask “why” whenever approaching a policy or even a system. Why is this policy in place? Why are you using this system? Once you find out why, you may be surprised. The reason may be something arbitrary or out-dated. Maybe someone long ago decided on a whim that what they thought was important is something that everyone should do. You may also find the opposite, where a policy or system is in place, because of an important reason you didn’t realize. Either way it’s good to know the root of these things.

More important than asking “why” is taking action if action is needed once you find out “why”. In our case we found out the “why” was because of a system issue and a process issue. We found that by talking through the process we could make changes to improve the policy. However we needed to fix an issue with our system – which we accomplished by creating a work around. Sometimes you have to be creative in order to make a change.

Once you find a problem work at it until it gets resolved. This is how great companies and great systems are created.

Thanks for reading!

While dialing through radio stations after work. I came across a radio program (podcast) called On Being. The guest was Ellen Langer a notable Harvard Social Psychologist who describes Mindfullness as “the simple act of actively noticing things”. I didn’t catch the whole podcast, but something Ms. Langer said really struck me. She said

…here’s another one that will sound strange, but I’m against compromise…  Well, the reason for that is, because it’s an agreement for everybody to lose. It’s just reducing your losses, rather than finding the win/win solution, which is often out there.”

And you know what… I’m not social psychologist, but she is ABSOLUTELY right. When you compromise it’s as if both parties are willing to lose in order to make an agreement. Think about how many times you’ve compromised in business and both you and your client were let down, or heck think about compromises in life. You short change yourself all the time with compromise, you’re left unsatisfied, and sometimes left hurt, because of compromise. Why do we put ourselves through such suffering? Probably, because it’s easier than the alternative!

What’s The Alternative?

The alternative to compromise (which MANY think is just not getting involved or getting out of the agreement) is actually creating a win-win scenario. You MUST find a better way, where both you and the other party will benefit. No one loses in a Win-Win situation. Now it may be a little tricky figuring out what a Win-Win scenario is, but know that many times a “Win” for you may not mean the same as a “Win” for the other parties involved. It’s like that saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” What you find value in may not exactly be the same as what your client, family member, or whoever you are interact with values.

A classic example of a Win-Win would be seen in nature would be symbiosis such as  an oxpecker bird cleaning a zebra – the bird gets the parasites and bugs for food, while the zebra is free from the parasites and bugs (other examples include bees and flowers, anemones and clown fish, etc…) , The same principle applies to life in general and in business. To counteract compromise you need to find a way to create a Win-Win situation. It’s not always easy, but find the common ground where you and your client will both win, instead of compromise and both lose.

To throw in another metaphor that my old Sales Manager always said to me all the time –  “a rising tide lifts all boats”. The Win-Win is the rising tide and the boats are everyone involved. Find the rising tide!

Thanks for reading!