Do You Think Before You Act?

Last week my son’s pedal on his bike fell off while he was riding. A small spill ensued and other than a scrapped elbow, there was no real harm done. Upon closer inspection I realized that the pedal had somehow come un-threaded from the crank, and after several unsuccessful tries I set the pedal aside presuming it was stripped.

Returning to the bike a day later I decided to look at the pedal one last time before I went to the store to purchase a replacement (I don’t give up easily!) and realized that it was threaded backwards. A few minutes of reverse threading and the pedal was on.

How many times have you given up on a problem, possibly a budget issue, staffing challenge or a customer complaint, only to return later and realize that the solution was in front of you the entire time?

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Urgency, and in turn a desire to act (or react) without thought can be deadly when it comes to solving complex problems. Don’t get me wrong, threading a pedal on a crank isn’t complex, but it’s definitely challenging when the thread is reverse!

When I help clients formulate their strategy I insist that we include downtime between sessions in order to allow participants the chance to reflect on all that has been discussed, and I take time at the beginning of new sessions to flush out additional thoughts and ideas. Basically, I tell people to think before you act. There are always creative ideas and new challenges that invariably come out.

Are you purposefully allowing your team time to think before they act? When it comes to business growth, speed is critical. But acting without thinking is deadly.

© Shawn Casemore 2015. All rights reserved.