Craig A. Steffen 

Making wise decisions has always been critical to the health of your organization.  But in a difficult economy, wise decisions become vital to survival.  By most accounts, we’re all doing business in a volatile, slow-growth market burdened with rising energy costs that affect literally every other aspect of our lives. 

Now that it has our attention, this kind of economy can be a great teacher.  One of the lessons we must learn is the lesson of interdependence.   

Things in general, and economies in particular, are far more complex than we are generally aware.  For example, when we’ve thought about the rising price of gasoline, historically we have isolated our thoughts to how much it will cost us to commute to work or take our holiday trip to grandma’s house.  But after a few years of steadily inflating energy prices, America is connecting the dots of interdependence.  When the cost of one thing rises it creates inflationary pressure that causes the cost of many other things to rise as well -- even things that are seemingly unrelated.   

Our economy has taught us that gasoline affects the price of bananas, cereal, lumber, designer jeans and lawn care – actually, pretty much everything.   If we can apply this vital lesson to the day-to-day operation of our businesses and organizations, we will enjoy much more efficient and effective enterprises that can thrive, not just survive. 

We tend to dissect our businesses into departments and assign functionality and expectations to those dissected parts in a style reminiscent of our college biology lab.  In my biology class we dissected cats.  I learned to identify biological and orthopedic systems within the cat by isolating those systems from the cat as a whole.  In that way I learned many things about cats and other similar mammals.  But did I really learn the crucial essence of a cat?  Hardly. 

As informative as the dissection process was, the essence of the cat can only be learned using interdependence theory.  As all systems work together with all other systems the cat purrs affectionately, eats fastidiously, plays enthusiastically, and chooses indecisively.  It is only the interdependence of the feline sub-systems that truly reveal the essence of the cat. 

In a dissected business we isolate marketing from customer service, accounting from operations, and sales from research and development.  But all these sub-systems are intricately interdependent upon one another even when it does not always seem so.   When this interdependence is ignored or denied, an otherwise successful marketing plan can negatively impact operational efficiencies if raw materials, labor and capacity weren’t factored into the plan.  If customer service policies are rigid and unfriendly it may simplify accounting processes, but derail the customer relationships sales people are attempting to build.  When R&D visualizes next generation products without learning what customers really want by listening humbly to sales staff, they can spend years of profits on development that is doomed to customer rejection.   

The interdependence has been there all along, and its deeper than we suspected. 

When economies are robust, businesses can sometimes survive in a dissected condition.  But when the life-giving economy is challenging, it is essential that leadership recognize the critical interdependence of all the parts.   

When was the last time that your company pulled leaders from every (and I do mean EVERY) department within your company to focus on the strategic challenges of your business in this economy?  Have you learned the lesson of interdependence or do you continue to dissect more and more in a futile attempt to stimulate new life? 

Paraclete Consulting specializes in helping companies evaluate existing products and develop new products.   Hit "Contact Us" to get a FREE consultation.