OS 100: Reverse Paradigms, Obstacles vs Opportunities
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. - Henry Ford So, it’s not going as you planned? You are doing too much and your team is accomplishing too little. The work is more intense and the income is down. It’s difficult to see anything but obstacles. It might be time to reframe those obstacles and attempt to define a way forward. Those obstacles can become opportunities if you can rethink strategy. It’s also time to rethink your own skill set, as well. To transform an organization or to transform a team, it’s important to begin that transformation with yourself. Basically, none of us can see our own blind spots - hence, that name. Let’s do a situation analysis... Analysis: Are the perceived obstacles really obstacles, or it is your mindset? Are you defining the problem accurately? Are you attempting to solve a problem before understanding what caused the problem? Is the market telling you that your concept needs to change? Are you too tied up with your own idea to admit that it’s flawed? Is the obstacle the idea or the strategy (the vision or the tactics)? Is the obstacle defining the limit to your ability? Is it time to work on your own self-awareness and team management? Let’s look at a basic problem-solving model. It works as follows: 1. Clearly define the problem (obstacle) and get feedback from your team - be very sure that you have defined the correct problem. Many times, leaders solve problems that are not problems. What is the obstacle keeping you from success, and is it clearly and accurately defined?