How many times have you heard a leader say “We are going to try this…”? Did they say it with conviction in their voice?
How about this example; “Please attempt to complete all of the questions before the time expires.” How does that line inspire you to work hard to finish? Does “Please attempt” give you permission to not complete all of the questions?
The word “Try” itself – regardless of the tone, is a defeatist word. To “Try” is to attempt. An attempt lacks commitment, and without commitment, there is hesitancy to pull back, not “give it your all” and accept something less.
Most failures in supply chain management stem from a lack of commitment to meet specifications. There are times where the specifications are not known, so people fail to reach them out of ignorance. But in most cases the standard of expectation is known, and our organizations “try” to reach them and fail, because our organizations failed to commit to reach the standard. Later in the series I address how Churchill set and maintained high standards and how high standards are important, but more important is the drive to make commitments.
Churchill was bold -- he was his entire life. There was almost nothing that the man could not do. And he did not just try, but would throw his whole being into whatever he was attempting. He had no fear of failure, because failure was just another step, one that could be corrected.
In our world of supply chain management there is a large fear of risk and failure. Because of that fear of failure – our organizations fail to achieve what they could, our people fail to achieve what they could, we fail to achieve what we could.
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