Shortcomings of Short-Term Solutions’
Nursing our baby taught me about the perils of short-term fixes.
“Can you please stop giving the baby formula?”, chided my wife.
“But I wanted to let you sleep!”, I retorted.
“I appreciate that. But every time you give our baby formula, I lose an opportunity to breastfeed him. And because breastfeeding encourages my body to produce more milk, every time I don’t breastfeed I fall further behind baby’s growing appetite. At this rate he’s going to be very hungry next week!”
As I began to politely retreat out of the room, something in my head clicked.
In organisations, we are often tempted by short-term fixes that offer quick results, but tackle only the symptoms and not the underlying cause of problems. Over time, the problem may worsen, our dependence on short-term fixes grows, and it becomes harder to cure the underlying cause.
An example may be an organisation attempting to develop an IT system using new technologies. Facing a shortage of the necessary technical skills, the organisation can either train internal staff in the new technologies (cure), or hire immediately-available external consultants with the right skills (short-term fix). Whilst the short-term fix of skilled external consultants will quickly get the new IT system over the line, any in-house knowledge in the new technologies decays, and the dependence on the external consultancy grows.
Suggests W.Edwards Deming, “An unstudied solution to a problem may yield immediate results in the right direction, yet in time bring disaster. For example, to sack people lowers costs straightaway, but in due time may cause serious consequences. The benefits of a fundamental solution may not show up for a long time.”
The takeaway? As Donella Meadows reminds us, we must favour cures over short-term fixes to “strengthen the ability of the system to shoulder its own burdens”. I must favour helping my wife increase her milk supply, versus increasing our reliance on formula. And organisations must favour helping staff grow the skills needed to tackle tomorrow’s problems, versus over-rely on consultants.
