Doug Cartland's Four-Minute Leadership Advisory
Doug Cartland, Inc.12/13/2011

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I had a talk with my dog the other day.

 

It was after Blue...uh...hmm..."laid waste" on one of our walks and made a flailing attempt to bury it. She flipped her paws backwards with great intensity, but little accuracy. Grass, stones and dirt flew everywhere, but the little pile remained unburied.

 

I had wanted to have this talk with her for awhile because I've seen her do this many times before. I finally decided to broach the subject.

 

I told her that I know genetically she is predisposed to bury her waste, but that with me walking behind her doing my job (picking it up), it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense for her to do it anymore. It's wasted effort really. (Pun fully intended.) I told her she needed to review her processes-that her burying it is an echo of a need that no longer exists. I made a great case.

 

She tilted her head to the right...and then flailed at some more grass and dirt.  

 

Sigh.

 

That night she was getting ready to lie in her bed. Her bed is a big square cushion on the floor of our bedroom. Before she laid down she attempted to dig a hollow into the bed to lie in. She does this every night. Her front paws spaz wildly-picking, digging, but the hollow never appears. The bed ends up in the exact same shape it was before she started. Still, she plops down very satisfied as if she accomplished something.

 

I decided to talk to her about that too.

 

I told her that the effort to dig a hollow was senseless now since it did no practical good. I told her that centuries ago, when her ancestors lived out in the wild, the practice of digging a shallow hollow in the ground for warmth and protection while sleeping made perfect sense. But she doesn't live in the wild. She lives in a nice warm house with a nice warm bed. Her digging is an attempt to fill a need that no longer exists and is more wasted effort.

 

She tilted her head to the left this time, blinked, yawned...and fell asleep. The next night she dug into her bed again like I had never said a word.

 

Dogs.

 

It's funny. This is a similar conversation I've had with a number of business leaders over the years.

 

Simply said, because a process made sense once doesn't mean it makes sense now. Like Blue, we often do things automatically and without thinking just because we've done them for so long. It's as if we're genetically predisposed to do them, though, of course, we're not. But then circumstances change, and we don't change with them.

 

Always challenge your processes and allow your people to challenge them. If they still make sense, then great! If not, then you have the opportunity to discover a more efficient and productive way to get a better result.

 

Now don't be tilting your head at me.
I'd love to hear from you. Reply to this email and let me know your thoughts.

 

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Doug

 

Doug Cartland, President
Doug Cartland, Inc.

 

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