What could possibly go wrong?

What would we do without our technological ability to capture horrific moments in time? Well, it would be the end of reality TV, anyway...

Life can be messy. Ugly. Dangerous. Anything but easy. The same can be said for business. The world of business has a lot of moving parts, that if not managed well, can end up just as badly. I see it all the time in my Arboricultural consulting practice. Problems that were entirely avoidable or predictable, created by either ignorance - or rejection - of proper practices. I see this all too often in organizations I work with as well. So, what's a Manager to do?

Do you understand how the various "parts" of your enterprise work, or work together? In Arboriculture, similar conditions can cause wildly different responses in different parts of a tree. Do you know how similar conditions affect different areas of your organization? Do you assume that conditions affect all areas homogeneously? Or that all parts will respond similarly, or can be made to? If you're not sure, you should probably put down the cookie cutter. Something bad is about to happen.

Without a highly refined skill to identify the moving parts in your organization, and their function and responses, a trip to the EER (Enterprise Emergency Room) could be in your future.