As leaders, one of the things we are often asked to do, is to find a way to get a square peg into a round hole.
Whilst this is not impossible, it usually not very good for either the peg or the hole, as it usually requires some degree of force which can damage one or the other, and often both.
When we face these types of challenges, we need to look to make things easier for ourselves. We need to understand what is more important, the peg or the hole.
If the hole is more important, then before we try and force something that won’t fit, we would be better of looking to see if there are any round pegs already available, maybe one’s that we are just no aware of.
Or if the peg is more important, then look to see if you can find a hole for the peg to fit.
All too often we go with force option first, but as leaders see should challenge this, and see if there is another way.
If there is no round peg, then can we do something with the square peg to help round the corners first, or something else that will help reduce the damage to the hole, when we will look to bring the two together.
We need to think smarter, not just use force and work harder.
Gordon Tredgold