Thursday, August 28, 2003
I Hate Challenges
If you are thinking of entering the Business World there is something you might want to know. It thrives on Buzz Words. It is obsessed with Buzz Words. I think it is because business doesn't want to think for itself, doesn't want to stick its neck out too far past the crowd. Just too risky.
If I say I have a Problem at work, my bosses correct me as if I'd just said "ain't" in grammar school. We are not allowed to have Problems at work. We may only have Challenges. This is very difficult for someone who is a self-proclaimed problem solver and proud of it. And it makes me think perhaps my Business World has no skill and no desire to solve problems. By only having Challenges, there is no need to change, they can just document, and bosses love to document now-a-days.
Case in point: while attending a UAW workshop a few years ago, one of the workers laid-off when his Detroit plant closed said his supervisor blamed the workers for the plant closing. His foreman had a stack of green-bar spreadsheets that tracked the same consistent error over a two year period! Can you imagine? A supervisor documenting the same error for two years? Can't you see him now -- reporting at his weekly meetings -- describing the Challenges he faced. Never once, no, not even once, thinking perhaps he might make some mention of the error to the workers, that Part A really goes into Slot B?
That brings us to another fault with the current obsession of the Challenge Label -- Blame. It is all too easy to rationalize the cause of a Challenge whether it is the workers, another department, the economics, or of course, the computer. They don't have to worry about how to fix something if all the time is spent on blaming.
Problems lend themselves to being solved. Challenges just sit like mountains for an eon. Think of how many managers must be employed to map, chart, photograph, inspect, study, meet and discuss, while never once coming close to solving anything -- you can't solve a challenge, you can just meet it & greet it, after all -- and then "pass the cream" and "are there any donuts left?"
Maybe it is time to change the textbooks in business schools. Commerce surviving the 21st Century is going to take more than a flirty smile, a fast wit, and knowing which shoes to buy. It is going to take some hands on problem solvers who know how to roll up their sleeves, are willing to take real risks and keep trying new ideas until one works.
That is how our nation was created. I think that is what it needs to survive.
If you are thinking of entering the Business World there is something you might want to know. It thrives on Buzz Words. It is obsessed with Buzz Words. I think it is because business doesn't want to think for itself, doesn't want to stick its neck out too far past the crowd. Just too risky.
If I say I have a Problem at work, my bosses correct me as if I'd just said "ain't" in grammar school. We are not allowed to have Problems at work. We may only have Challenges. This is very difficult for someone who is a self-proclaimed problem solver and proud of it. And it makes me think perhaps my Business World has no skill and no desire to solve problems. By only having Challenges, there is no need to change, they can just document, and bosses love to document now-a-days.
Case in point: while attending a UAW workshop a few years ago, one of the workers laid-off when his Detroit plant closed said his supervisor blamed the workers for the plant closing. His foreman had a stack of green-bar spreadsheets that tracked the same consistent error over a two year period! Can you imagine? A supervisor documenting the same error for two years? Can't you see him now -- reporting at his weekly meetings -- describing the Challenges he faced. Never once, no, not even once, thinking perhaps he might make some mention of the error to the workers, that Part A really goes into Slot B?
That brings us to another fault with the current obsession of the Challenge Label -- Blame. It is all too easy to rationalize the cause of a Challenge whether it is the workers, another department, the economics, or of course, the computer. They don't have to worry about how to fix something if all the time is spent on blaming.
Problems lend themselves to being solved. Challenges just sit like mountains for an eon. Think of how many managers must be employed to map, chart, photograph, inspect, study, meet and discuss, while never once coming close to solving anything -- you can't solve a challenge, you can just meet it & greet it, after all -- and then "pass the cream" and "are there any donuts left?"
Maybe it is time to change the textbooks in business schools. Commerce surviving the 21st Century is going to take more than a flirty smile, a fast wit, and knowing which shoes to buy. It is going to take some hands on problem solvers who know how to roll up their sleeves, are willing to take real risks and keep trying new ideas until one works.
That is how our nation was created. I think that is what it needs to survive.
