JUST THINK

Why do programs of work fail?

Well a whole bunch of reasons right? But at the root lies one very pernicious and irritable devil. Meaning. How many times have you heard “I didn’t think that’s what you meant…!” Think about that for more than a second. Our mind imagines – in images – what every word, phrase and definition means. It fires up visual representations of our minds interpretation of the idea it hears in our brains and bingo off we go.

Well that is a very high risk right there.

Now go back. Think about how complex programs get kicked off. How did the strategy and vision get started in the first place. Were all the critical definitions shared? Did we really have the same meaning as we developed and designed these things? The answer is very definitely no! Increasingly apparent in the failure of these transformative programs, complex implementations and failed operational strategies is shared meaning. Critical parts of the team thought other parts of the team were working to the same end. Wrong.

Why?

Crazily simple. The idea and its definition – ‘meaning – was subtly different in everyone’s head, the emphasis, the priorities, the motivation, the stuff that folk work at. It all meant different things in different ways to different people and fundamentally so. READ THE FULL CONTEXT HERE _ CLICKY

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” – Joel A. Barker