SHUFFLE Your Way to Success

I once heard a story about a semi-trailer that became wedged under an overpass.   Transportation authorities and engineers puzzled over the problem for hours. Finally, they resolved that the only way to get the truck unstuck was to raise the bridge - a very costly solution.  About that time, a man and his young son were driving by slowly in the backed-up traffic.  The young boy, watching everything intently simply asked his dad, "Why don't they just let some air out of the tires?"  The story goes that the man stopped his vehicle and told the workers what his son had just suggested.  And it worked.

Sometimes greater success is unlocked as the result of gaining a different perspective.  We see a problem from a different point of view and suddenly the answer becomes clear.  My wife and I like to play scrabble.  We'll sometimes spend a quiet evening passing our iPad back and forth playing the electronic version.  Often, I'll have a rack full of letters that show no promise.  I'll stare and stare at the letters and the board and see no possible way to spell a word worth more than six points.  That's when I hit the SHUFFLE option.  This little trick simply rearranges the letters on my tile rack and gives me a fresh look at my opportunities.  Often, this is just what I need: a new angle on the same resources.  I have gone from spelling "CAT" to "THATCH" with the help of the shuffle.  That's a 20 point swing (and I need all the points I can get when I'm playing my wife.)

From a leadership perspective, we can sometimes spend a tremendous amount of time and energy staring at the same resources, wondering how we will ever get the company to grow, the team to advance or the project unstuck.  Here are a few simple ideas:

• Ask a disconnected member of another team to get their eyes on the obstacle.  
• Look at the issue from the opposite side, a sort of reverse engineering perspective.  
• Take the team and the issue into an unrelated setting.  Sometimes fresh surroundings can reset our critical thinking skills.  

The bottom line is that you can't be afraid to shuffle the tile rack, your answer may be that small adjustment away.

Lead Strong

How have you SHUFFLED your way to success? Share your comments at

http://goleaderslead.blogspot.com/2016/01/shuffle-your-way-to-success.html