It's interesting how hard we work to make all things we work on perfect. I'm still guilty of it at times, but recently I was reminded how the obstacles we encounter in life, are often our greatest teacher.
My sons have both been working on their science fair projects. As one of the chief designers of that effort, I always try to make sure they are set up for success. My middle son, Josh, was studying "The Effects of Windmill Shapes on Harnessing Windpower." It was a simple experimental design; two windmills - one vertical, one horizontal in design, measure the output of electricity via an AMP meter. We ordered 2 commercially built devices to test. Once the materials arrived however, I could tell, there were some big differences that might affect his experiment.
Josh had his hypothesis based on what all of his research had said and was convinced that the vertical windmill would outperform the horizontal. What happened was exactly the opposite, and at a ratio of 15:1. What? How did that happen?
The design of the vertical device was very different than the other. It consisted of some heavy magnets running over wire coils on the turbine shaft to capture power, vs. a smaller motor enclosed in a plastic case with a wire running through it. These heavy magnets were an issue. They slowed the turbine down. This required Josh & my handy husband to reconfigure the design of the vertical windmill to then leverage the same motor as the horizontal one. Once that was done, they ran the test again and the device performed much higher. However, it still fell short of the horizontal windmill's effectiveness at a ratio of 3:1 and Josh's hypothesis was clearly wrong.
As I helped him put together his board for judging at the science fair I realized what made Josh's experiment most interesting was actually the obstacle he encountered along the way. He had so much more learning because of it. His project became less about what he was trying to do and more about what he learned through overcoming that obstacle. He had much more to talk to the judges about then just the results. He got to talk to them about what he learned and how he reconfigured the device to try to mitigate the differences to create a more sound expirament.
This is such a close parallel to our lives at work. We set goals, we think we know what result we will get and often we run into obstacles. What's important is what we do after that. Josh could have just said - I was wrong - this one (the horizontal device) outperformed the other by 15:1. Results were not what was expected. But he didn't and it is what made this project so great. He got curious. He investigated the obstacle and found a way to redesign the project to get better results. Excited to say as well he earned his way to the State Science Fair.
It's always nice to have projects go perfectly. But I'm not sure we learn as much. Obstacles are a part of our path. For the employees we manage, helping them identify the issues, and reconfigure their plans may be the best learning for them and MORE IMPORTANT than the results they get.
Get Curious. Figure out what each obstacle you and your team encounter has to teach you. It may be your greatest lesson.
What Obstacle have you faced that has taught you the most?
