Strategy and Teamwork - The 'New' Story of The Tortoise and The Hare
Strategy and Teamwork - The 'New' Story of The Tortoise and The Hare
Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon won the race.
The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.
Well, it turns out the hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some Defect Prevention (Root Cause Analysis). He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.
The moral of the story? Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.
But the story didn't end there. The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundged along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.
The moral of the story? Change the game to fit your strengths. Be strategic.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.
The moral of the story? It's good to be individually brilliant or to have a great product; but unless we are able to work as a team and harness all of our core competencies, we'll always perform below par. The tortoise and the hare never gave up. They changed the game to suit their joint competencies to succeed and worked as a team.
At the NADL Vision meting there was a startling framework used for the statistics on laboratory consolidation. Warren Rogers reminded us that three dental labs are closing every working day! That is shocking. Work heading offshore, the high cost of technology and our current economy all drive this metric. In order to survive and thrive we will need, slow and steady, fast and consistent, choosing strategically and teamwork. One focus will not be enough.
