The simplest answer is to act.
Ever get a bad case of the yeabuts?
"Yes, but [insert_your_favorite_excuse]."
Les Brown was the second person I ever heard say, "If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you can't." Brushing away the spider webs of the dark recesses of my mind, I believe it was Earl Nightingale that first brought this simple truth to light for me.
For every business owner waiting by the phone for that good news that never seems to come, I have a simple message:
Do something!
Even if it is wrong. You cannot steer a vehicle that is not moving. D'oh!
All too often in the application of the Constraints Management Model (CMM), otherwise very intelligent business owners will argue with Jonahs that know how to produce results. Look Mister Widget Producing Man, we are happy to "give you your due" when it comes to building Widgets. But business is a lot more than building a better mouse trap. Often, the problem is even worse: those same Jonahs will argue with the business owner! You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it float on its back. Honest. Guess what? You cannot create lasting results without trust. Not gonna happen without mutual respect.
You should despise the phrase "buy in" as much as I do... it is as wrongheaded as the phrase "closing the sale." Or as wrong as Ronald Reagan's favorite expression to highlight the "out of whack" national mess he inherited from Jimmy Carter, "I'm from the government, and I am here to help."
Fear of failure
Zig Ziglar claims it is the greatest motivator. More so than the desire for gain. In my experience assisting hundreds of business owners over the last twenty years, I can assure you that it is a fact. Fear has a way of stopping even the bravest of us all. The best defense? Do something. A moving target is much harder to hit.
What if you "do something" and it is wrong? Wait for it... "at least NOW you know it was wrong." The amazing thing about the application of CMM is this: it works 100% of the time. Just like the law of gravity. A very long story short: if the business owner "wins" the argument with a Jonah over the true weakest link, within days, the true weakest link will become painfully obvious to everyone in the organization. How is that for a process improvement tool?
If I can help, reach out.
Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah
ski@throughput.us
http://throughput.us
P.S. I forget to mention that you are just ninety days from real results. Results that you can take to the bank.
©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.