Understanding Urgent Problems
It is interesting the Circuit Questionnaire suggests pain increases urgency (question 4.3). Doubtless sometimes it does. For example, where the pain is new and the person experiencing it wishes to return to the status quo ante. Urgent problems are often new problems.
However, take care claiming pain always leads to urgency. Where people or organisations live with pain for long periods, they may prefer the pain to the risks attendant on doing something about it. They develop work arounds that lessen the pain without addressing the root problem. These may become as much a problem as the original cause.
So, if you approach an organisation for the first time, it is possible its problems are symptoms of deeper issues, unaddressed for fear of the pain they would uncover. For example, the staff may avoid bullying through elaborate strategies to keep out of the bully’s way. Over time these strategies may become enshrined in organisational practice. Anything is better than unleashing the wrath of the bully.
What Makes a Problem Urgent?
So, whilst pain can be a reason for urgency, there are others. You may wish to argue all these reasons cause pain. This illustrates why pain is perhaps not always the clearest indicator of urgency.
- Business failure is one incentive, if an organisation can see it coming. Most organisations that view management accounts will see the trends and be aware of impending problems. Their challenge is to find constructive ways of reversing an adverse trend. It is easy for organisations to ignore evidence and pretend things are well, when the figures show they are not.
- Poor performance may seem similar to business failure. After all, if performance is poor, sooner or later a business will fail. However, this is not always true. A community organisation that can’t build membership or get people to meetings may continue to be financially viable. Most organisations with funding but low membership are not satisfied, if their representative function is their raison d’etre. Ultimately, finance may not be forthcoming if the organisation cannot prove support. Many organisations continue for years claiming representation whilst actually a small group of activists. If overheads are low and you have a couple of reliable fund-raising events each year, you can keep going.
- Conflict is a common problem and generates much pain. Conflict is often the cause of poor performance and ultimately business failure. Cause can be difficult to uncover and maybe well-intentioned people are not aware of it. It is possible to recover from conflict and the Case approach to non-directive consultancy is a useful tool. But it is a difficult issue, especially where a consultant’s role is something else. For example, a website designer, may find conflict prevents an organisation keeping their site up to date. The designer may not detect conflict or know what to do about it should they see it happen. And, of course, it is not really in their remit.
- Competition may be urgent, where a competitor begins to take customers away.
- External change can generate urgency. The PESTLE method helps organisations spot relevant external change. Urgency may be where a previously undetected or underestimated change suddenly becomes a threat. This is a major issue for many organisations. The Opportunities and Threats elements of SWOT Analysis help identify these issues before they become urgent.
What Difference Does Urgency Make?
If your customers have urgent problems they are most probably seeking an immediate solution. It then depends on your solution. If someone’s website stops working, it’s likely to be urgent and need a technical fix. There may be some issue within the organisation, eg someone has messed around with something but that can be addressed.
However, some urgent problems are symptoms of something deeper and some businesses offer support to diagnose deeper problems. A series of crises may mean something is going on under the surface that needs to be addressed. It may not be urgent and to focus solely on urgent problems may overlook deeper issues.
It helps to be clear about the sort of problem you handle. No-one expects a website designer to tackle deep-seated organisational conflict. The website will never work properly while conflict persists. No-one expects the designer to raise it, let alone help resolve it.
A coach or consultant, working on deep-seated issues, may help resolve several urgent issues, as they address their causes. The point is both approaches are valid and it helps to be clear about which approach you use.
Can you think of other causes of urgent problems?