LOOKING BACKWARDS, or hindsight, can be dismissed as a useless skill, probably as opposed to foresight, which is looking forward.
But is it really a choice between the two?
A good driver probably needs both windshield and rearview mirror to get to his destination. Hindsight is a way of understanding what already happened and why, and how matters can be improved for the next time around. Therefore, coaches repeatedly watch the video of the most awful blowout defeats to understand what went wrong. Insights gathered from these painful losses can spell victory in the future.
In the classic murder mystery, the story usually opens with the discovery of a corpse. From here, our trusty detective reconstructs the victim’s life and how he died. This leads him to the trail of motives and possible suspects among associates, rivals, and relatives. The question asked is — who benefits from the death? Insights are gleaned from forensic findings in the autopsy, the crime scene investigation, and the weapon used.
In business, the corpse is found at the end of the story. Failure is too seldom analyzed for lessons that can be learned. (Every failure is a teaching moment.) Often, all effort is expended on who is to blame for the mess. The focus is on finding the individual to demote or fire and eventually replace with an expensive and maybe an even more clueless replacement. Failure, the corpse in the business mystery, is more likely to start the blame game, rather than the game plan.
In the MBA course, the mystery game makes its appearance in the case method. A real company (sometimes disguised) is dissected to understand the dynamics of decision-making often in a crisis. The management theories are applied with wild abandon on the facts of a case, often sanitized to exclude back-stabbing, corporate politics, snide second-guessing, and family ties.
An opportunity is surely missed in the panic and finger-pointing which follow a failed enterprise. When disaster strikes, executives scream and head for the exits as if from a burning building: “let’s fire somebody.” There is a frantic search for a culprit. This panic often leads to frenetic action that compounds mistakes and worsens the situation. The problem does not go away after the despedida party — Thanks you, Faustus, for your service to the company.
Somebody needs to step back and play the detective with the deerstalker hat — hmm, what have we here? This meditative pause sets aside the ringing cell phones (they do have a silent mode but still vibrate for attention) and secretaries bursting through the door announcing somebody important waiting outside with fingers flexed for a pointing exercise.
Coaching is a good role for the leader. A blowout in the first quarter of a basketball game, leaving a team behind by 15 points, can be an occasion to take to task the players responsible for turnovers, weak defensive plays allowing easy points, or lack of ball movement. It is a chance to improve with a better game plan.
The adjustments in player rotation and defensive patterns are results of studying a previous failure, instead of identifying who to blame.
Good leaders are bench strategists who understand the game and how it should be played. True, a setback is not the best time to learn and adjust but a time to say one’s prayers. It is hard to admire the scenery when alligators are snapping at your heels. Maybe, it’s time to leave the swamp?
An organization’s stakeholders are not really limited to those who have a stake in the company’s success. They can refer also to those who are tied to the stake as they burn for their mistakes. The term “scapegoat,” after all, referred to the hapless animal tied to a post to attract a predator in a hunt.
Elections which are coming up are good opportunities to look back, especially for those who lost previous contests, and are aiming to rejoin the contest.
One practice that is on top of the list of excuses for previous losers is the “survey.” If one is not doing well in this, the sample polling is seen as manipulative and mind-conditioning to favor the frontrunners. Will history repeat itself?
Always looking back can be a stressful exercise. As in all lost passions, sometimes it is best to just move on… and try to avoid the same mistakes.
Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda