The picture:

A wagon with square wheels, being pulled by one person and pushed by two others.  Oh yes, the wagon was filled with round wheels.

Some key points about the illustration (at least from my perspective – you may draw others):

§   The Leader is pulling the rope in front and the team is pushing from the back

§   The wagon body represents the organization

§  The Square Wheels are the things that work, but not always smoothly

§  The Round Wheels – already inside the wagon – represent the ideas that could make the wagon or organization operate more efficiently

The illustration brought back to my mind my previous experiences in a highly structured business environment.  It reminded me of the plaintive cry heard many times from employees:  "There has to be a better way!"

Very often the folks doing the tasks recognize that what they are doing is not what could or should be identified as best practice.  However, they do not know how to go about evaluating their processes for improvement.  Unfortunately, in many instances they may also not have the skill sets required to properly communicate their ideas to the organization's leaders.

In today's business environment this cry; "There has to be a better way!" is also being heard at the board table.Organizations recognize that to stay competitive and profitable they need to improve how they operate.

Think for a moment about your organization.  Does your wagon have square wheels?  Are you hearing the same plaintive cry from leaders and staff as the title of this article indicates?  A very successful business leader, Jack Welch of GE is quoted as saying:

"Willingness to change is a strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while."

Think for a moment of the two questions posed in the previous paragraph.  Would your answer to these be YES?  The solution could be as basic as making some different choices and implementing process improvements.  It could also be as Jack Welch suggests as radical as changing the very nature of your business.  The key is to do something to find that better way.  At the same time, look to ways to help those individuals with the creative, innovative and more efficient ideas develop and sell those ideas.

At this point, what comes to mind is an often repeated quote from Dr. Phil McGraw: "You can't change what you don't acknowledge".  Are you prepared to acknowledge "there has to be a better way!"