The seven dirty words

I'd imagine that most people who were pre-teenagers or older in the early 70s probably remember George Carlin's routine on the seven dirty words you can't say on television (and if you're too young to remember - lucky you! - you can quite easily find it via Google). As it turns out, there are seven dirty words in the business world as well; the difference is that not only are the seven dirty words of business not forbidden, they're used nearly every day, and by people who really should know better.

Imagine you're in a meeting, trying to resolve a recurring process problem. After everyone is in the loop on exactly what's going on, Joe makes a recommendation to change the procedure that's contributing to the problem. Joe's recommendation will make life easier for everyone and eliminate the problem; but as he talks, you notice that the people around the table look uncomfortable.

And then, it happens: Maxine looks Joe straight in the eye and says, "We can't do that." Joe makes a perfectly reasonable argument about how well it would work, and Maxine says them; she says the seven dirty words of business: "But we've always done it this way."

I hope that phrase puts your blood on a slow simmer as it does mine. If you ask me, there are few worse reasons not to take action than "but we've always done it this way." So what? Is there a law that says you can't switch things up? Is the world going to come to an end if you find a better way? I know that change can be scary, but without evolution we couldn't have this online discourse - because we'd still be living in caves.

What drives this unwillingness to try something new? In my opinion, it ultimately comes down to fear: fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of having to do more work, fear of becoming obsolete, possibly even fear of success. But we have to embrace and conquer that fear if we're to live our best (professional and personal) lives. If we don't get past our fear, it will paralyze us.

Let's get back to Joe and his creature-of-habit colleague, Maxine. When you're trying to make changes in the workplace, one vocal opponent can derail the best of projects. Sure, you can go over the heads of the naysayers and get the okay to move forward; but that kind of forced cooperation won't ever get you the kind of support that you can only get from total buy-in. The challenge, then, is getting buy-in from people who are resistant to change.

Although I don't love meetings as a rule (the lifeblood of bureaurcracy, is what they are), this is a situation that calls for a meeting. So here's what you do: gather a brain trust from all areas of the organization; be sure to include folks who are unfamiliar with the business problem as well as those who are directly involved. If you really want to generate good discussion, invite people from all levels of the org chart as well. This last tip serves several purposes: first, it'll give you the valuable input of the the people closest to the problem; second, consider it a development opportunity for some of the folks who are looking to move up; finally (and most important), it tells people that you value everyone's opinions, and not just those at the upper echelon of the company.

Once everyone is assembled, you're going to hold a brainstorming session. If you've never facilitated one of these before, you should know that there's one rule for participating in a brainstorming meeting: no suggestion is too outlandish; arguing against anyone's idea is absolutely forbidden, with no exceptions.

After you've presented the ground rules for the meeting, it's time to get the participants thinking creatively. In order to do that, you want to tap into their creative sides and loosen them up. I've found a great tool to do this is blind drawing: give each person a piece of paper and a (washable) marker. Then ask everyone to close their eyes and, with their eyes closed, draw a picture of where they wish they were at that moment. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I've found that it works every time: it removes all the tension from the room, and everyone can manage to draw - quite effectively, I might add - a fairly accurate interpretation of their dream spot even without being able to see. When they're done, have them swap pictures and see if the team can interpret each other's drawings.

When you're ready to get down to business, the first step is to get the group to agree on exactly what the problem is that you're trying to solve. This is critical, because if you're all trying to solve different problems, you'll never come to consensus. (In an upcoming entry, I'll walk you through conducting a root cause analysis; for today, we'll assume that this particular problem is simple enough that you know what's causing it without spending days on investigation.)

So, you've agreed on the problem; now it's time to come up with solutions. You, as the facilitator, are responsible for writing every last suggestion (preferably on a flip chart, so you can retain it for future reference; and Post-It flip chart paper is wonderful, because you can place the pages around the room as you fill them). Keep on writing until the ideas stop coming. With any luck, you'll have at least a dozen possible solutions to choose from.

Tomorrow, I'll write about how you'll start to filter those possible solutions to come up with the best direction to take. For today, I'll leave you with this thought: there may be many valid reasons not to move forward with a proposed action; "but we've always done it this way" is not one of them.

Comments

[John Windsor]

Nice post, Kathleen — and, boy, are those seven words deadly, in ALL contexts.

Regards,
John

[Kathleen DeFilippo]

Thanks, John. I agree - no one should ever use that phrase.

KD

[lomet]

It's wonderfull article
. amazing u r sumitted. Although I don't love meetings as a rule (the lifeblood of bureaurcracy, is what they are), this is a situation that calls for a meeting. So here's what you do: gather a brain trust from all areas of the organization; be sure to include folks who are unfamiliar with the business problem as well as those who are directly involved. If you really want to generate good discussion, invite people from all levels of the org chart as well. This last tip serves several purposes: first, it'll give you the valuable input of the the people closest to the problem; second, consider it a development opportunity for some of the folks who are looking to move up. i suggest one site
which is relevent to the business. it's also nice article.