The Cost of Aging Problems

About ten years ago, I was listening to a panel of senior HR executives. When asked about how best to deal with persistent personnel issues, one Fortune 500 HR Exec said,

“I have found in the work I do that problems don’t age well.”

It was one of the simplest and most powerful statements that has stuck with me ever since. Problems don't age well.

Leading and managing people is consuming, persistent work even with the right people in the right seats.

But what happens when:

• Someone from your “A” team from a different era of the organization isn’t keeping pace with its evolution?

• You have a toxic rockstar?

• The Board is tolerating a so-so leader to save themselves the work of an ED search?

The same is true beyond your team:

• There is a donor with a healthy case of scope creep.

• There is a sizable grant opportunity that costs more to run than is reimbursable.

• You have a collaborative “partner” not meeting their commitments.

  
  

In any of the above scenarios, known problems that linger have a zero-point-zero chance of miraculously resolving on their own.

Mediocrity—or worse—takes hold when leaders favor comfort over the short-term discomfort of making change.

I know it’s not fun to have hard conversations.  What’s less enjoyable and profoundly insidious is when the problem becomes the worst kept secret in the organization.

Sitting in discomfort is temporary. Please think about and then go have that hard conversation. Your team, and your partners, will thank you. The health of your organization depends on it.