The investment I made with Eric to coach one of my key managers has been well worth it.
Action vs. Analysis
In his book The Million Dollar Consultant (New York: McGraw Hill, 1997, page xv)
consultant Alan Weiss describes an experiment in which a researcher placed both bees and flies in a glass bottle, with the bottom of the bottle against a sunny window but with the top left open. The researcher’s hypothesis was that the bees, because they are more intelligent than flies, would be quicker to find the open end of the bottle and escape.
Instead, just the opposite occurred. The bees, ‘knowing’ that heading toward the light was the best way of escape, continued to bang against the closed end of the bottle. They ultimately all died. The flies, however, flew randomly around the bottle until one by one, each happened to fly out the open bottle top and escape.
Performance Principle: Sometimes action is better than analysis. When facing a chronic problem, one that is particularly resistant to being solved, it can be more valuable to try several new approaches, even if they don’t seem particularly clever. Just acting differently may help you see the situation in a different light. It may clear your head, give you a different perspective, or help you to understand the problem from a different angle. And, maybe you will just get lucky and fly right out of the bottle!
Questions to consider:
- Are you overanalyzing your current problems or challenges?
- Are you insisting on doing things “right” instead of trying new approaches to old problems?
- Instead of trying to figure out the perfect solution for a problem, can you try a bunch of different solutions quickly and see what works?
- Is your pride at being an expert getting in the way of admitting that you need some new ideas for solving the problems that you face?
