Mick Jagger was right – you can’t always get what you want.
One of the dynamics that managers face is weighing off short-term objectives against longer term ones. This sometimes results in seemingly poor decisions being made.
Often, I get to hear people in organizations complain about the seemingly silly decisions that are made. It is so clear to them, that by investing $100,000, you can recover a $1m. They’ve done the cost benefit analysis, and the answer is clear. The only problem is that they haven’t figured whether there is $100,000 to spend in the first place.
Think of it like this: If you replace the windows in house with better insulated ones, install high efficiency furnaces and air conditioners, and put new insulation in your attic, you will undoubtedly save thousands over the lifetime of those renovations. However, you may not have the $25,000 required now to do those modifications. Further, you may not be sure you’ll be in the house long enough to recover the investment.
It is the same for organizations.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve seen lots of examples of corporate stupidity, too. My favorite one is the company that decreed in blood that all travel occurring within an operating division must be by surface, and that air travel was restricted to those going across operating divisions. This made a lot of sense in Northern California, where the decree was issued. It didn’t make a lot of sense in British Columbia (about twice the size of Texas, and full of mountains). It turns out to drive from one side of this division to another was a four or five day exercise. Surely a plane ticket would be cheaper? Nope – the policy stands. Truly stupid.
The dynamic of measuring the short term and long term costs and benefits is not easy. Leaders need to do the math and figure out the right thing to do. But sometimes, the right thing to do is deferred to what can be done.
You might not get what want, but rather “get what you need”. Thanks Mick.