What's on my mind? How we can remove roadblocks

My son Alex hit a roadblock last week. It was Presidents' Day weekend, a big celebration in the US that makes for one of the busiest weekends on the roads. He was making?his way up the Interstate 70, the main road to seven of Colorado's big ski areas, on Friday afternoon.

Snow was pounding down. There were caution signs along the highway. Chains were falling off semi-truck tires which helped to steady those bigger vehicles on the slippery snow-packed roads. A broken-down car in the middle of the road started to severely bottleneck traffic.

Alex had a choice to make: get out and help push the car to the side of the road or wait for what seemed like forever to get around it. He put his car in park, flicked on his hazard lights, got out and helped the driver of the broken-down car to push. It was risky... cars were veering left and right of them and there was a real possibility that one would run into them. After about 15 minutes of pushing and a passageway around starting to form, he gave up, moved back to his car, and slowly manoeuvred around the stuck vehicle. A?one-hour journey had turned into five, and white knuckles gripped the steering wheel the rest of the way. (Needless to say, I was waiting with open arms and felt very relieved when he arrived safely!)

The situation last weekend made me think, how often do we have that feeling at work? The feeling that a roadblock caused by someone else or another team is not our responsibility, and therefore not our problem to solve? How often do we just complain about it rather than 'get out and help'?

It is a mindset I've seen and experienced many times over my career: "It's not my problem, let them deal with it." When this happens, a Band-Aid solution is often applied, temporarily addressing the issue without removing the actual roadblock. Sometimes, the root cause is clear to other teams, and all that's needed to remove the roadblock is a little guidance or support and, in return, appreciation for the help. Other times, like the car stuck in the middle of the interstate, it's a bit harder to fix, even when the solution is obvious.

My son wasn't strong enough on his own to move the car, and no one else was willing?to get out and help, so the car stayed stranded and the roadblock remained. I'm sure eventually they got the help they needed, but it stands as a real-world situation where people banding together would have solved the problem.

This reminds me of a quote I love from Margaret Mead that's sometimes associated?with the scientists from the 1927 Solvay Conference, a?meeting about the unsolved problems in physics and chemistry:?"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change?the?world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Whether it is pushing a physical roadblock out of the way like my son, working through the unknown to make some of the most important scientific discoveries of our time like Einstein and Marie Curie at the Solvay Conference, or trying to solve a problem in business to deliver key projects, we need each other to remove roadblocks and make real progress happen.

I want to know, are you willing to step out of your car, your role, your function to help remove the roadblock? And just as importantly, who are you bringing along to help you?