You are a Director. You have a scorecard with over 50 performance areas identified for your Pillar. As the days become months which turn into quarters, you start getting anxious. The year is moving fast, yet all the scorecard performance areas are still outstanding. And your Chief Executive Officer and fellow directors are starting to ask questions. As the work-related pressure starts forming, you start to show some seriousness by becoming tough to your direct reports. Who, for lack of anyone to blame, tell whoever can listen “it is the Director.’
Instead of getting serious to work, it becomes a game of pointing figures.
The directors blame the managers. Who blames the supervisors. Who then blame the staff. Who then blame the directors. Who then blame the people in the recruitment process. Who then blames the CEO. And the cycle continues. The result is a dysfunction akin to a stone in the shoe.
A stone in the shoe or a sand particle in rice meal explains the dysfunction that arises when something seemingly small, affects the effectiveness of the entire operation. In manufacturing, like in a home, it is small things that make a whole lot of difference. So how do you avoid a stone in the shoe from making you limp? It is simple: you stop and remove it.
