Mazes in the Workplace

Mazes. We've all done them sitting in a waiting area of some kind, haven't we? They help pass the time when we're otherwise feeling anxious about wasting our time "waiting". Generally there's no real reward to completing them. There's no cheese at the finish. There's little, if any sense of accomplishment. As a matter of fact, some of them are so easy you don't have to use a writing instrument to complete them, you can simply see the way out. Nonetheless, even those take and waste time.

How many times do we start our day like this?

Maze 5182011

How many times do we start a project like this and trudge forward corner by corner and accept the fact that we have to double back and try another path? We know it's not productive. And we know that most of us hold jobs where it's not inevitable to proceed within in the path. We know the best thing to do is to plan first and act or to figure out the quickest path through the maze and then automate the route. Clearly most mazes aren't too difficult and that's why it's tempting to just jump in not knowing how we'll get through, but having confidence that we will. After all, how many mazes have you ever worked through only to find there really is no way out? None. That's the reason we tend to just jump in. Moving through the maze with bumps along the way produces results and taking time to plan the best route may seem like a waste of time. Heck, maybe getting bumped and bruised along the way feels challenging and so we feel rewarded when we make it through. But in a world where time is a precious commodity, I'm thinking that for most of us playing the maze game can't possibly feel as good as knowing what the more direct path is.

So what can we do? We can implement procedures and process. I have a love/hate relationship with procedures and process. I love the effectiveness of process. My career and my clients are better because I'm a scholar of process. I hate being a part of redundancy, it's boring. But there's a big difference in being trapped in redundancy and having good processes. That's the basis of why I'm most passionate about processes. I'm passionate about the freedom that process enables and I know that sounds just weird to many people. But what I learned over years of study on process and implementing technology to help with process is that process enables creative, problem-solving thought. This occurs because as we commit to process those things that can be more automated, it leaves us more time to work on the things that cannot be put into a process. That's the "thinking" stuff. Or it's the free flowing, jump off the cliff and see how this works stuff. It's the true genius stuff. It's the critical stuff. It's what sets us apart from those we compete for the best business. It's what we do before we jump into the "maze". So, will you take the challenge and create a new process so the mazes you encounter are more navigable, or will you continue to sit in the "waiting room" passing time? If you have some processes you're willing to share, (and I hope you will) I'll put them here or in my blog.