The workaround is not the solution

The elevator in my hotel is incredibly noisy. The elevator shaft constitutes the center of the tower, with each room wrapping around it, relatively equidistant. Which means every room, on every floor, is the worst room in the joint. The first night here I thought it was going to make me lose my mind. On night two I was much less aware of it. I expect I won’t notice it at all by the time I leave. Adaptability is part of what makes humans so amazing and part of what sets great leaders apart. While some struggle to process environmental changes and help others navigate them in parallel, the best leaders see critical pathways and gracefully alter their behaviors to succeed in new circumstances. The problem arises when we allow short term adaptation to result in permanent behaviors. Quickly getting used to the sound of a loud elevator is a useful adaptation when you are only visiting for a few days, but it’s also a great way to never fix the elevator. Here are three ways to collaborate with your team to survey your workflows for workarounds that still need permanent solutions: Do a “Patch vs. Pillar” review - Work with your team to develop a list of workflows and processes that are used regularly. Evaluate them to determine if they were 1) developed in response to a crisis and 2) if they are the best option long-term, or if they mask a more fundamental issue.Find the anomalies - Probe these workflows and processes to identify which ones are regularly avoided in favor of an alternative method. Interrogate these anomalies for clues as to whether to update the procedures to match best-practice behaviors or update irregular behaviors to match best-practice procedures.Time travel to the future - Project yourself 18-months into the future and ask yourself if these workflows and processes made it more or less difficult to optimize your efforts for success.OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Let your team know you want to evaluate workflows to determine if they are hiding underlying issues that need to be fixed and you need their help. Invite them to share any practices that may be suspect and use 1-1 conversations to ask them about their routines to learn more about what is working and what isn’t.