In June 2008, while I was teaching a three day workshop on facilitation
and gathering and documenting business requirements, someone raised an issue about
the economy and stated that the market is headed for a crash soon (within 6
months). Interestingly, the people attending the workshop were not investment
specialists. They were professionals from across various industries with
backgrounds in human resources, information technology, healthcare, project
management and administration. In essence, they were operational and tactical
professionals with the same learning goal of understanding how to get the
information they needed to create solutions for business problems and
opportunities within their respective areas.
Instead on doing the planned assignment we went with the issue
raised. I was interested in knowing if a group of professionals from different
industries and expertise could apply the five requirement type’s principles (business,
stakeholder, solution, data, and implementation) to understanding a complex
business issue. Thirty people (6 groups of 5) discussed and brainstormed the
issue, defined the challenge, the market parameters, the solution options and build
consensus with one key recommendation. They recommended that it would be wise
to exit the market by August 2008.
So I decided to take their recommendation to the street. I
interviewed three investment advisors independently. Each advisor told me that
there was no way that a group of thirty people who were not professional
investors could predict the market. They further told me that it would be smart
to stay the course with my present investment portfolio and not make any
adjustments. Hind sight is 20/20.
There are many lessons we can learn from listening to our people. We
must include our people when it comes to understanding business problems, opportunities
and creating innovative solutions. People need to work together to unravel
complex issues. There are approaches and processes that can be applied to help
you make better business decisions. Never under estimate the level of group intelligence
of your people. They do know what they are doing. Having a common direction
comes in real handy when investing in the success of your organization. More
importantly, implementation is the key to the success of best laid plans.
We all know that hind sight is 20/20 and we can chalk it up to a character
building experience. Or we can listen to our people. They have something important
to contribute. Let them.
Question of the Week: What lesson have you learned from your people that could have made a positive impact on your business? Why did you not implement it? What would you do differently?