Today’s Solution is Tomorrow’s Problem

Business is down, so you cut costs and let some folks go. But then, just a few months later, projects come rolling in.

Now your team is slammed; they have worked up to their eyeballs. So you dig in with them and help knock out some client work.

While you’re head’s down, you miss how disgruntled your account team is getting. They are burned out, and their leader’s behavior isn’t helping. So your turnover skyrockets.

Sometimes, leading an agency can feel like playing whack-a-mole. You’re facing one problem after another. Does it ever end?

Two kinds of problems

Some problems are straightforward. When you solve them, they stay solved.

When the production team’s computers are slow enough that they can’t finish their work on time, we buy them new, faster computers. Problem solved.

There are other problems that, when we try to solve them, the solution creates other problems. For example, we bring in new work when we’re already busy, so we need to hire. But once we get folks hired, the added cost means we need new work again. There’s a very narrow range in which we have the “right” amount of work so folks aren’t overworked and we maintain good profits.

Problems like these are “tensions to manage,” not problems to solve.

As your agency grows more of the decisions that end up on your desk are of the “tensions to manage” variety.

How think about tensions to manage

One way to visualize these tensions is to think of them as walking down a path. On each edge of the path is a ditch full of alligators. If you go too far to one side or the other, it gets dangerous! Here are some ways to navigate that.

Could you make the path wider? What gives you more margin for error? For example, if you are busy and still bringing in more work, could you price those new jobs with higher margins to make room for more freelance resources? Are there any projects you can slow down to free up capacity? Would folks be willing to wait 60 days for their kick-off?

Which edge is closer? With many of these tensions, there’s one we’re really worried about. So, instead of walking down the middle of the path, we’re way over to the right because the alligators to the left look SO scary. Another way to make the path wider is to tolerate, for a time, a walk that’s more in the middle. Yes, you are closer to those scary alligators–but there are alligators on the other side, too!

For example, maybe you sleep well at night with enough cash in the bank to cover 8 months of expenses. But a significant opportunity comes along that might bring those cash reserves down to only 4 months. Could you tolerate that increased risk in exchange for the rewards from the big opportunity?

Can you solve the problem with money (temporarily)? I was having dinner at one of my favorite spots on a busy weekend. Our group had finished eating, but we were engaged in a valuable conversation and didn’t notice that folks were waiting for a table. The restaurant owner offered to buy our group a round of drinks at the bar. How generous of her! We graciously accepted, and she got another party seated.

When you are faced with tension to manage, you won’t make everyone happy. The leader’s role is to find the best outcome for the company and then mitigate the resulting risks.

Where are you trying to solve a problem, that’s really a tension to manage?