Barrier:
The Ghost of the Politburo

The appeal of the “do nothing alternative” (i.e. ignore the idea) often involves inertia more than denial. The rationalization goes something like this:

“This is what we do and what we have done for years, to the substantial satisfaction of our customers. We have industry and market standing and a respectable (enviable) competitive position."

"What do we have to gain by taking this initiative?”

That question typically elicits a perfunctory, inertia-driven “Not enough.” answer.

The question “What might we lose by not taking this initiative?” rarely gets adequate (any) consideration.

Not every change is an improvement but every improvement requires a change. Managements’ job requires entertaining change, in order to establish possibilities for improvement. Managements’ job also involves fostering experimentation to create low-cost learning opportunities that avoid mistakes and accelerate “changes for the better” (improvements).

Whenever inertia (the status quo) prevails, management is not doing its job.

In this context, management should respond to ideas by asking “What low-cost experiments might produce results that confirm and/or enhance the value of this idea? “What low-cost experiments might produce results that refute and/or diminish the value of this idea?

The Deming Cycle (PDCA: Plan, Do, Check, Act), in connection with straightforward necessity and sufficiency logic (i.e. “In order to ____ we must ___.” and “If ___ then ____.”), gives any organization a straightforward framework for conducting low-cost, high-value experiments, designed to produce actionable information for use in fact- and logic-based decision making about potentially promising ideas.

Everybody understands “if, then” and “in order to, we must” constructions. Accordingly, they understand the essence of proper experimental designs, fact substantiation and logic-based decisions. That makes for a fair and transparent process that encourages ideation and the systematic pursuit of change for the better.

Hello Gary,

I found this Barrier a great value-add but the end left me a bit unsatisfied. It did not add to the interminable check list of the good executive but it did enjoin the executive to get on his feet and MOVE IT. That is not a force from within; as advice coming from without it too has overtones of the Politburo!

Energy, Time and Volition are the key to sound management and their supply is presently constant while the demand has gone through the roof and is rising. I state this to emphasize:
a) Perhaps the real Barrier to management is on the Supply side. We need a powerful flow that carries the personnel in the right direction; and
b) Along with a change in supply new ways of using the supply may develop to achieve the need to MOVE IT for genuine Feedback.

In a way I am applying the moral of your music story to your recommendation: understand the essence and progress it with the emerging technology.

Regards,

Raj Kumar

The word Politburo is what drew me to this conversation. We'd encountered the real thing when making children in Ukraine's institutions the social focus of our business. We were up against a hangover from soviet times, where those with disabilities were considered of no productive value and shut away. In our groundbreaking article 'Death Camps, For Children' we describe a culture of NGOs being coopted into silence by organised crime.

This brought adversaries from within government and the not-for-profit world and led to a campaign claiming we were a business intending to profit from an imagined humanitarian crisis.

Later we found ourselves in direct competition with our own government's development agencies who are publicly funded. Essentially a business for social purpose pays tax to their competitors.