What's that Smell?
Fixing Problems from the Source
Click above for an introduction from Executive Assistant Carrie Harper
Oh... What is that Smell?!
Raise your hand if you are a parent, and that question has been uttered from your mouth with disgust.
It went on for a while for me... weeks perhaps...
Every time I got in the notorious mom van (picture a beat up 2008 Honda Odyssey... the same kind you see at every kid soccer game), I could smell it. I started attacking the odor with essential oils and opening windows. Over time, I used strong perfumes and an upholstery cleaning. I couldn't figure it out. And at some point, I was considering leaving the van Jerry Seinfeld style, with the keys in it.
Side story: my husband and I are swim parents. On a normal (non-COVID) summer, we spend our days hustling kids back and forth to the pools, and spend our Saturdays with other hot and miserable parents cheering our kids on poolside, yelling things like "DO BETTER!" and "SWIM FASTER!"
My husband has become the Friday night taco chef. You see, there are no breakfasts available Saturday mornings at 5 AM in Austin. So, he would make 15-20 breakfast tacos Friday night for me to heat and throw in a bag Saturday morning. We would distribute tacos not only to our hungry two, but to any other tent side little swimmers who needed fuel.
Guess who dropped a taco out of the bag.
To put this in perspective, the swim season ends early July. I think I found the taco sometime in late September. In Texas.
Now, had I completely unpacked the back of the van (no small task, parents), I would have found that taco on the day of the unfortunate misplacement. But I suffered for weeks instead.
Maybe in your office, it's not a stale taco, but maybe it is a stale problem that has not been addressed. Maybe you are using metaphoric essential oils, perfumes, and sage to erase the consequences of a problem that is not going away by masking it or ignoring it.
You can only stick your head out the window for so long.
Imagine how many more problems can be avoided by finding and extinguishing the source.
Sometimes, that "taco" has been sitting in your trunk so long, you can't smell it anymore. In other words, maybe you are experiencing consequences of a problem that you can't see yourself.
That's why having a third party, like a business consultant or coach, can help.
Our consultants at Momentum have tools to uncover problems and reveal blind spots. It's the transformational discovery that can change the efficiency and the productivity of your business.
We are here to help;
Carrie
Fundamental of the Week #19: FIX PROBLEMS AT THE SOURCE Address issues by discovering the root cause rather than focusing on the symptoms or the consequences. Continuously seek improvement by developing long-term solutions.
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