Shifting Boulders - The Fluidity Perspective
I grew up fishing on the New River. There was a particular part of the river near Hinton that my family absolutely wore out. It seemed like we were in the river more days in the summer that we were outside of it, so we got to know this area very well. I will, to this day, often say that I knew every rock in the river. This was not true in reality but I knew them so well I could tell you when there had been a major shift of a boulder or larger rock on the pathway to my favorite fishing holes.
Now, there were some boulders that just weren’t going to move but there were some very large ones that, with the right amount of water flowing through the open gates in the Bluestone Dam and a torrent of rainfall washing out the creeks in the hollers, could be shifted due to the pressure created by the flow. Every so often, I would be shocked when I saw a massive rock moved a few, to many, feet out of place when I would have thought it was impossible. This stands, in my mind, as a reminder that even though some things seem immovable, with the right amount of change, pressure, and force, the immovable is movable.
I like to think about this example in regard to many aspects of life, but specifically to business operations and culture. In my mind I compare the water to the day-to-day responsibilities, the questions and problems, the personalities encountered, worker issues, supply chain, decisions that need to be made, etc. This would be the flow of life, sometimes the water is high and heavy and sometimes it’s a trickling stream, but it is always moving. In business, like the river, we have boulders, this may be an industry focus or niche product, an operational method, an expert employee, or some other major stone that is seemingly immovable. The problem with this mentality is that some stones are going to move whether you think they will or should.
A very simple example of this concept is communication pre-COVID versus post-COVID. There were many businesses and people who would have balked at the idea of work-from-home situations pre-COVID. There are even some people now who very adamantly anti-work-from-home, and they can make good points for being so. This, however, does not address the “breaking of the seal” in our culture. We have proven that it is possible to have a company move forward with remote workers. There will always be jobs that cannot be work-from-home, but many companies are now either willingly or reluctantly figuring out ways to make many positions remote. The competition for good employees will necessarily mean that companies must address the good employee’s work/life demands, including remote opportunities.
Where some people and companies pre-COVID wouldn’t have dreamed they would be offering remote positions, they are now readily offering them or suffering the consequences of their workforce moving toward roles in companies that allow them remote work. This boulder has shifted, and it was the waters of COVID have shifted it.
The key to the boulder shift is regular, proper, boulder shift assessment and maintenance. We must stay very much like the waters of life, fluid. Our perspective must be fluid, our operations should be able to shift with the current and, when we find boulders that we are unwilling to see move, we must make accommodations to reduce or divert the flow around them. This is a rinse and repeat strategy, we should always be assessing and accommodating, because there will always be changing factors obstructing our view of the boulders.
Proper assessment of our boulders means breaking down the reasons for keeping the boulders in place considering the fluidity of perspective. There will always be changing factors, so the view we had of a boulder 10 years ago may be vastly different today. For instance, if we used to chisel notes on stone and use a forklift to deliver them could we possibly use lasers to etch them today, or could we use email? We may have loved the stone etching method and had many people telling us to keep it in place because it’s the way we have “always done it”. If this is a boulder you determine you must keep in place, that is fine, but you are going to be competing with companies using email so how can you divert the waters? Perhaps your model is to only make 1 huge sell per year so delivering 1 chiseled stone doesn’t cost you any business. That may be a way to divert the rising river away from your boulder. What is more likely, however, is that your boulder will shift whether you want it to or not. You will reluctantly adopt email, or dare I say, some sort of face-to-face chatting app.
Maybe it’s time for you to do some boulder assessment. Maybe you should consider your view today. Are these boulders worth preserving in place or should you determine a way to move the boulder proactively before the river of life moves it for you? If you need some help determining where your boulders are laying, or whether they should be moved, Orchard Street Solutions can help. We specialize in assessment, planning, and logistics for moving boulders and/or diverting water around your boulders. Please email us at Orchardstreetsolutions@gmail.com if you would like to set up some time to discuss your boulders or any of your business strategy or career strategy needs.
