"Insanity: Doing the same thing over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein
If I have to put a label on this summer, it would be “Insanity”.
Over the course of the last few months, my days have been spent meeting and chatting with business executives about achieving higher results from the technology investment they are making.
Although the conversations begin with comments and concerns of varying types, the crux of the discussions can all be summarized similarly: “I feel like we are not getting the best results from our investment in technology and all that it takes to run IT.”
Sometimes it takes the executive 45 minutes to an hour to fill me in on what they believe the problem is. They tell me all of the things they have tried and how failure or poor results are the most common outcome. I listen carefully to their expectations and the desires to make sure I really understand the issues he or she is going through.
After taking some time to help clarify the problem, I usually suggest a couple of things that could be done to help get the results they are longing for -- and I make sure to suggest ALL of the options I can think of. After all, there are always multiple options for increasing the performance of a department or team, and you have understand the underlying issues before you can feel comfortable making and implementing change.
The funny thing that brings me to “Insanity” is that routinely the executive circles around to the exact same plan that he/she is already executing!
For some reason, people continue to march down the same path that brought them to call me in the first place!
The next question I ask is “Why do you think that what you have been doing all along, and self-admittedly failed at several times, will work going forward?”
This question stops the conversation dead. Then we laugh! Sometimes as humans it just takes another perspective to bring out the obvious.
To those who make change happen due to our time together -- Congratulations, I am ecstatic!
I enjoy my time consulting with executives. It's fun finding “the obvious” and helping stop the “insanity”.
Marty
