Investing in Force Multipliers
Trading off between investing in a more systemic, force-multiplying solution versus just trying to keep up with the immediately overwhelming work at hand is difficult. Sometimes this mental image helps me recognize when I should consider stepping back and making a different choice.
Is it Time for a Force Multiplier? Deciding when the right time to invest in developing a force multiplier is tricky. Tricky because it always costs resources (time, money, attention) to level up, and usually, when the time comes that you need to level up, it also feels like you are the most resource-constrained. Let me share an image that I keep in the back of my mind to help me remember this dynamic – and bring it consciously to the front of my mind so I can make intentional choices. It is also an image that I share with my managers to help them think about their choices.
Cutting the Grass with Scissors or Investing in Developing a Lawnmower. Sometimes I see a team leader whose team is facing a massive task, like cutting an entire football field of grass. Grabbing the tools they have at hand, they jump into the fray and begin madly cutting the grass with scissors. Trying to help, the team leader grabs a pair of scissors and starts cutting the grass as well. Here is where the mental shift needs to happen. What if the team leader stepped back and realized that they could help their team accomplish the work much better if, instead of grabbing a pair of scissors and joining in the work, they stepped back and went away and developed a lawnmower instead?
I know, when illustrated this way, the answer is so apparent. Of course, we should develop a lawnmower! However, in the real world of building a business, sometimes – maybe many times — leaders make this error.
Scaling Production Example. I remember a time when we were overwhelmed with orders (a genuinely GREAT problem to have!), and the manufacturing team was doing everything they could to make more product faster. They were cutting the lawn with scissors like mad! And our head of manufacturing put tremendous pressure on our wonderful manufacturing supervisor to just jump on the line and produce alongside his team. He did it. Making product every day alongside his team. We weren’t getting any faster. Finally, I became aware of the situation and recognized it as the classic lawn cutting with scissors problem. Stepping in, I insisted that we get the manufacturing supervisor off the line, even though it meant taking an immediate hit on our production rate. We just had to give him the time and space to analyze and make systemic changes that would level up our manufacturing rate. We needed him to apply all his creativity, knowledge, and insight to build us a lawnmower. He had always been up to the challenge, but we had to make the hard decision to sacrifice the immediate short-term output for a better output longer term.
Scaling Team Capacity Example. Another common example of the force multiplier dilemma is when a team is going peddle to the metal hard, and more resources are clearly needed. Yet to actually step away from the fray and invest resources in finding, recruiting, and training new resources is so hard. Growing the team when the team has actually reached its capacity limit is a hard decision. It requires strong, disciplined leadership who will protect the existing team members by managing expectations for what can be produced while the team is expanding and then insisting that the team take the time to actually do the work of recruiting great additions. Situations like this demand discipline and awareness at multiple levels, yet if that insight and capability is not available, the team will be hamstrung and limited to its current capacity rather than growing.
Balancing Act. I see this happen all the time. Someone is faced with an overwhelming situation – and they double down in working incredibly hard to get the job done. But if you step back, you can see that slowing down on immediate progress and investing in developing a force multiplier can lead to a better result. The challenge is knowing when you have reached the point that the force-multiplier actually multiplies the output. Overinvesting too soon can be equally damaging if it uses up resources without producing the intended level-up in capacity. For example, it would be nice just to hire when you have not yet started to be stretched or if the organization has not yet reached the point where the pieces are in place to take advantage of the capacity created by scaling the team. If you hire too early or before important prerequisite work is complete, there will not be enough of the right work for the new team members join in, and you may begin hemorrhaging resources when you cannot afford to. This is a dynamic balancing act – and requires careful judgment for when to act.
Process/Capability Improvement Example. The lawnmowing with scissors analogy applies beyond just internal team capacity investment decisions. Sometimes I spot it in the people we are trying to help with a new tool. For example, right now, it is in evidence amongst the senior clinical leaders at some of the hospital systems we are talking to about adding new clinical capabilities that should extend the capacity for good clinical decisions without adding to the workloads of already overburdened nurses and doctors. Listening between the words that are said, we can see that COVID-19 has pushed these hospital systems to their limits, with clinical resources stretched to the breaking point. The hospital leaders are fighting forest fires with handheld fire extinguishers – and their ability to step back, reflect, and think about how to level up the capacity of their clinical teams is just overwhelmed. The leaders are crushed, and the teams are overwhelmed. They are all doing the best they can – cutting the grass like crazy with their existing systems (aka scissors), and, it appears, only some have the capacity and support to step back and invest in leveling up by sourcing and adopting lawnmowers. I have deep empathy for the challenges that they face – and a strong desire to help; however, it is hard to help those who are feeling overwhelmed because it usually requires an organizational commitment to innovate in such conditions. Recognizing that those you are selling a new solution to are too overwhelmed to evaluate and implement a better way of doing things may allow you to decide when it is the right time to encourage change and when is the right time to wait and support. I see the effect now from the pandemic – and recognize the pattern from my years as a process improvement consultant helping dozens of teams figure out how to improve their processes and tools under pressure.
Conclusion. The bottom line is that when you are scaling a company, you need to pay attention to when the time comes to invest in a force multiplier. Watch out for the moment when all the prerequisite pieces are in place to scale, and the temptation becomes tremendous just to buckle down and help with the scissors at hand. That is the time when you, as a leader, need to recognize that the long-term gain of investing in a force multiplier solution is worth the short-term cost of making the investment. That is when you need to make the hard prioritization decisions and lead and support the team through the process of leveling up. Experience makes this easier to spot – and your growth depends on achieving the right balance. Good luck!
