The picture shows a sign stating both the distance in miles to different destinations and also the number of ‘locks’ to get there. The locks are an amazing feat of engineering which allows boats to go up or down hill on a water way. The distance and locks shown are 29 miles and 3 locks or 30 miles and 58 locks. Clearly one journey is going to require significantly more stages to get to the destination. Also there is going to be a lot of work and waiting required to navigate the locks.
And one journey is on a river which will be flowing whilst the other is on a canal with still water.
So all in all a lot of different circumstances which will impact on the journey, the times and the skill required.
This got me thinking that this often so true in life too. Sometimes the journey is striaght forward and there are few stages to go through to get the job done. At other times the journey is much more challenging and takes so much longer.
Often we rush off to one destination without realising all of the work required when a little forthought would have made a large difference in our speed to accomplish a task. Now if we needed to go to the destination with 58 locks more time and a fit crew would be needed. If our choice of destination was the journey with only 3 locks our team would probably be different.
I have been working with some businesses who still think the team who can manage the 3 locks are capable to undertake the journey with 58 locks, in the same time and without getting tired. So just a few thoughts:
- Are you ensuring that your team is fit for the new opportunities in front?
- Are you making sure that they have some time to recover?
- Are you planning your journey as best you can to identify the skills needed, even if some have to be learnt on the journey?
Just a thought as sometimes we dont always look at the signposts that are there to help us with our journey. I hope you are looking at the signposts, else there may be more locks than you bargained for………
My best wishes,
Peter
