Muddle Through, or Think Bigger? That is your question.

20 hours waiting in the ER of a local hospital. A bad experience for everyone: patients, family, nurses, doctors, staff.

Disclaimer: This isn’t an easy, cheap shot at hospitals, ERs, medical professionals, or our healthcare system. They have their hands full; trying to sort out what to do about it is above my pay grade. No political diatribes please.

Don’t worry, everyone is fine. No need to go through the gory details.

Not being able to turn off my strategy oriented mind, though, I started mulling over a common dilemma faced by business owners that this story illustrates quite well. “Muddle through, or think bigger?”

No one was happy about the situation: patients, their families (me), nurses, docs, admin staff, security guards. All of us were doing our best in the midst of a frustrating confluence of circumstances that was demoralizing to everyone. Nothing was working as it should. They are muddling through a tough situation, and for whatever reason, not thinking bigger about it.

You face the same thing, too. A project, a transaction, a process goes awry that confounds everyone. Everyone involved is unhappy about it: customers, their customers, your staff, your leaders, your banker, you. What do you do? Muddle through it, or think bigger?

The initial reaction is “this too, will pass,” you and your team hunker down, get through it, apologize to everyone, and move on. You muddle through it. It’s an anomaly, a bit of bad luck, a one-off situation, a blip on the screen.

Maybe not. Maybe you should think bigger about it.

Here’s the why: The fact that everyone is unhappy is a big signal that something bigger is going on than an isolated mistake or an instance of poor execution. You need to get curious about it and dig into it.

If it’s just a mistake, you’ll learn just that, and confidently put it behind you. If it’s more, you have an opportunity for improvement that benefits everyone. Big upside here.

Here’s how you do it. Ask questions of everyone involved. Listen intently, withholding judgment. Don’t solve it yourself.

Here’s the questions: What worked? What didn’t work? What is missing? What could/should be different? What are the next steps? The dialogue generated from these questions will generate your way forward. If it’s a one off, move on, no harm done. If it’s something bigger, you will figure it out and be better for it.

Here’s the bonus: Your team gets smarter. Your team is more engaged. Your team will start solving these things on their own. Isn’t that want you want?

Are you ready to think bigger? Do you need help with thinking bigger? It’s what I help business leaders do.

Take a look around my website. I have lots of ways to help you do just that.