In search for the Silver Bullet

Says the legend that if you want to kill a werewolf, a vampire and certain witches, you need to shoot them with a silver bullet as these creatures are so powerful that the only way to eliminate them is with this “magical” bullet...

But these are all fantasies and fairy tales. We live in the real world, with real “monsters” of different shapes and sizes and with real names such as: mister Challenge, señor Problem and monsieur Difficulty.

Through novels and stories, the term “silver bullet” was created as a metaphor to represent magical solutions to difficult situations (the monsters) that seem hard to resolve.

Face the Problem

It often happens that it is not until organizations realize the size of their problems (which were growing over the years, in many cases associated with budget restrictions) when they decide to take action and hire people hoping that they all come equipped with “silver bullets” ready to kill the “monsters” in no time when in fact the same monsters were neglected by the very companies that are now trying to get rid of them.dd

Desperation kicks-in and expectations go high to see immediate results from the “new kid on the block”... after all he is expensive, he is highly experienced and was hired mainly to solve this.

Organizations neglect to understand that:

NO MATTER HOW MUCH HEAT YOU PUT, AN EGG HATCHES IN 21 DAYS

…and if you keep increasing the heat... at the end of the day instead of a chick you will have a hard cooked egg.

A Reality Check

It is important to recalibrate and be clear that;

• There are no silver bullets.

• What took years to create is hard to revert in months...

Or in other words:

• Ignoring the elephant in the room does not make the elephant go away, and

• You do not hire “them” to fix your problems… you fix your problems with them

So, instead of looking for the “silver bullet”, do a reality check and answer these questions:

• How long have I been having this problem?. How big was it when I realized?

• What was my commitment as Individual/Organization to solve it back then?

• What metrics and KPI’s have I defined to monitor and track improvements?

• What Organizational resources (time, money, manpower, etc) I am willing to provide to have it solved now?

• What are my expectations and are they adjusted to a realistic time-frame?

• Am I committed to stick to this?

Once you have answered honestly to all of them, then you will see that the silver bullet “magically” appears.

Before I go, I want to share a final thought:

DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT DISTRACTIONS.... REINFORCE YOUR FOCUS, IMPROVE YOUR AIM