"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."
Abraham Maslow
American Psychologist
American Psychologist
The overriding goal of for profit business is to make socially acceptable profit.
No business I know and none I have ever been a part of has had all the "tools" necessary to make this happen. There's always something we want that resources won't allow us to have.
That aside, I observe that businesses do have more tools than they either realize or choose to use (usually the first.) Mr. Maslow is talking about the only "tool" one has but I'm suggesting we add to that the possibility that there may be more we simply don't use.
What "tools" do you have available to achieve your goals, keeping in mind that the one(s) you use may not be all you have.
No business I know and none I have ever been a part of has had all the "tools" necessary to make this happen. There's always something we want that resources won't allow us to have.
That aside, I observe that businesses do have more tools than they either realize or choose to use (usually the first.) Mr. Maslow is talking about the only "tool" one has but I'm suggesting we add to that the possibility that there may be more we simply don't use.
What "tools" do you have available to achieve your goals, keeping in mind that the one(s) you use may not be all you have.
Like "muscle memory" which results in our continually doing what we know to do, the "tools" we use are typically those we have used in the past.
ReplyDeleteGood advice suggesting we think about other ways to do things. The question is how do you break with old habits?
Breaking with old ways isn't easy.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all you need to determine which old ways should be dropped followed by coming up with effective new ways. Doing that is easier said than done and because that is so, it something a lot of managers just don't do.
The answer is to institutionalize change thinking into the company's culture. Contact me if you want to discuss how to do that; I'd be happy to help.
Peter Drucker once said good consultants ask a lot of questions and the heart of finding new ways and breaking old habits is exactly that. Never stop challenging the way things are done.
ReplyDelete