“Experiencing Pain”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
In Dr. Henry Cloud’s book Necessary Endings, he discusses “pruning” of activities in our professional or personal life which may be using up precious resources that may better be implemented on higher impact activities—those very activities that we’d really like to be “about”.
One indicator of the need for change is whether our organization is experiencing “pain”. That “pain” could be lack of expected success in certain aspects of the business, poor interpersonal relationships in the workplace, or lack of clear leadership within a team.
Discomfort is normal for any organization, because change is normal. “Pain” can be temporary and part of normal growth such as: a downturn in the economy; loss of a key team member; a newly promoted manager is developing relationships and their own leadership style. This type of “pain” can be endured and will likely lead to future success.
However, other “pain” is chronic and not part of normal, healthy, growth. This “pain” must be dealt with and eliminated. Examples of abnormal and unnecessary “pain”: a poor workplace environment due to a disgruntled team member; lack of effective leadership on a team; permanent loss of sales due to a fundamental shift in the marketplace.
These are the signals that an ending is necessary, and this is the hardest and yet most important part of management. Like a surgeon, the effective manager must (1) diagnose the source of “pain”; (2) critically evaluate the prognosis (will it lead to healing on its own? or must the cause be eliminated?); and (3) take the necessary, and often difficult, steps to moving the organization forward.
This is the pathway to finding success on the other side of pain.