You Can’t Force It To Work
If something isn’t working, pushing harder won’t fix it.
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We’ve all seen companies where things aren’t working. The product doesn’t work, customers aren’t buying and management is just pushing harder and harder. More money is spent on marketing, generating more leads and they don’t convert either.
These businesses are like broken cars where the wheels have seized. They look like cars, so it’s easy to believe they can move. But, no matter how much you push them they won’t move. They aren’t cars, they just look like cars from the outside.
At the core is a leadership team that refuses to admit they made mistakes. It is easier to try and force things to work than step back and admit fault. Admitting you were wrong is painful and likely means layoffs, cutbacks and other hard decisions.
But refusing reality is not a winning strategy.
The longer you try and force something to work, the more damage is done. The team loses confidence in leadership, potential customers become detractors and the market perception of your company erodes. Reality is unyielding.
At the same time, many businesses have rough patches. It requires persistence and effort to overcome those bumps and build something that really works. No business executes perfectly over its entire existence.
How do you know if your company is pushing a broken machine, or just persisting through a rough patch? Good question!
Your company might be forcing it to work if…
… There is no improvement or learning. If you aren’t gaining insight and making changes with every customer to slowly improve results, you aren’t moving forward. You should be seeing at least small, incremental improvements on a continuous basis.
… There is no acknowledgement of the problems. If leadership won’t talk about or acknowledge the problem, then no one is really dealing with the fundamental problems. Avoidance is obvious to most people, and the attempt to avoid these problems just makes them worse.
… Everyone is waiting for magical solutions. “This next release will fix everything.” Reaching for magical solutions is a sign of desperation, not a real strategy. There is no single fix for deep, structural problems. If all hopes are pinned on one thing instead of a cohesive strategy and hard work, then things aren’t going to get better.
What do you do if the company really is just trying to force things to work? Don’t stay silent! Make sure it’s a conversation the team is having, as the first step to solving these problems is admitting you have them. Propose solutions, point out opportunities and be a voice for change.
At some point, if no one listens, you might have no choice but to leave. That is a sad outcome, but certainly worse than pushing against a mountain hoping the mountain will move. There are too many companies who need your help with problems they admit need to be solved.
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