Can your organisation do a power slide? IMHO: It should!

This is in my humble opinion and you might disagree with me. So I strongly suggest you read the Disclaimer at the end of the post first.

This Blogpost is the futile attempt to make a case why drift trainings on icy lakes in Finland should be tax exempted. As long as you are not working as a chauffeur or running a transportation and logistics business they are not. And this is truly a pity.

Many years back I had the opportunity to learn to drive a car drifting and sliding around icy and wet tracks. For a bystander the car looks completely out of control and it seems a miracle that it doesn't end up turning over or "kissing" a wall.

Now, how does this connect to management? In my humble opinion it does in many ways.

First there is the concept of instability as the norm. The trainers pointed out that as soon as the tyres loose the bonding with the road surface it cannot get any worse. So you should better actively and with a clear goal bring the car into this "unstable" situation. From then on there are no more surprises. If you can master instability, if you have learned to anticipate what is coming next, if you have tools and methods to direct your car in this state, then you might as well enjoy the ride. And you will grin from ear to ear doing so!

Business is often unpredictable. You might never be able to setup your organisation and your SOPs to cater for every eventuality. So in some areas or at some time of your organisational development you might want to opt for an unorganised, more chaotic approach. This calls out for all involved personnel to be more the active kind, more the boss-like kind. That also calls out to distribute responsibility and power. You will have to activate all resources to act on your behave to master the unpredictable.

In some circumstance it might also mean that there are no SOPs or only a very limited number or ones which have a broader scope. But that also means that there is the imperative need for training outside the original job scope.

Even when it is so much fun to put down the foot and power slide around the corners, there are moments when you do not want the drift. You want to accelerate cleanly without wheel spin. You want to have a stable car just before you enter that slow corner.

The key to master these situations is to understand the circle of forces. In German you refer to it as the "Kammsche Kreis", named after Wunibald Kamm (1893-1966), a German scientist in the field of car and engine technology. Basically it describes the ability of a tyre to transmit a maximum amount of force. In a moving car this maximum force will be shared between holding the car on the road while cornering and/or accelerating or decelerating at the very same time. If you apply more force than the tyre is capable of transmitting it will start to skid and you will loose control of the car more or less abruptly. This is the reason why you should not accelerate to hard while still driving around a corner and/or you cannot steer the car while you are breaking hard. That is exactly how the ABS is working: breaking than steering than breaking than steering...

So the tyre has a maximum capacity to do what you want! You may opt to step over that limit deliberately to do a power slide. But most of the time better stay below that limit!

Your organisation also has a limited capacity to do what you want! And if you want highest speed and best reaction to market changes without loosing control you need to be aware what is already eating up your capacity. Excessive meeting culture, daily/weekly report cycles, usage of tools without training, constant reorganisation, frequent introduction of new methodologies, out-of-the-blue project assignments, etc. These are all eating up the capacity your organisation could be capable of.

Time for stock-taking. Do you have a clear understanding what are the value-adding and what are the non-value adding activities your organisation is doing? Have you set a maximum the non-value adding stuff can block? When was your last effort to diminish that frustrating workload and replace it with a more senseful or automated approach for controlling and reporting?

If the breaks are worn out, you better not drive so fast! Could it be that your competition is running on a new set of break pads?

The first few rounds your hands are sweating, your body is tense, your eyes are almost popping out. The experience to let go of immediate control to achieve a higher level of control is intense. As with almost everything new it feels dangerous. But if you stick with it, slowly the tension is replaced with anxiety, with lust to do it again and again, with the realisation that out of control isn't synonym with without control. Soon it is an ecstatic feeling. You drift with 60+kph on all four wheels around a wide 180° turn. The spinning wheels are generating a white cloud of ice against the blue sky of a clear day north of the polar circle. And you are enjoying it! You are laughing and joking with your co-pilot! And you know you will come back the next year.

Mastering something new is a joyful experience. It boosts self esteem. It enlarges expertise. It creates valuable knowledge on the subject as well as the process and methodology. Doing so in a team is even more fruitful. You can discover new talents in your existing workforce. The level of trust, understanding and collaboration is enhanced and suddenly people might be reengaged with their job.

Enabling your organisation to operate successfully without restricting limits, with an entrepreneurial mind, and measuring the result in a more direct way on their own responsibility will have a tremendous effect. Easier said than done! But the reasoning is sound and more and more such experiments are being carried out. There is no magic wand helping you to shorten the journey. It is a complex undertaking, not everyone is capable to function in that way, and not everyone is seeking this kind of freedom in his/her job.

I have not forgotten that the real life is changing in an unprecedented speed. And organisations need to adapt quickly to survive. So the ability to step outside the standard operating model and be a flexible and powerful market contender is already crucial for success. I have not forgotten but I chose to make my case for a change of choice not of outside pressure. I was never forced to go to Finland!

And that may just be the true reason why the trainings cannot be exempted from the tax.

Do you follow my reasoning? Do you have similar or different experience? Why don't you leave a comment below. I'm looking forward to the discussion.

• I do not claim to be always correct and I hope neither do you! On that basis you just read my humble opinion on a topic I have strong feelings about. I love to discuss as long as we are tolerating each other's believes.
• I do not want to offend anyone and will take immediate action if you indicate that I unintentionally did.
• I do not intentionally infringe copyrights. Please hint me if you think I did.
• I do not own the words I use but they form my very own personal opinion. So please indicate where you copied from.
• I DO have the passion to connect people, processes and systems.