Look for resolutions, not roadblocks

Mediation is a beautiful thing to experience. Resolution creates a satisfaction that is hard to describe, as it builds – and perhaps even heals – relationships through working past existing problems to solution.

Watching a skilled mediator guide opposing parties from negatively impacted issues toward a positive goal is like a conductor bringing an orchestra to a resounding conclusion. Begin with the end in mind and most anything is possible. These talents we use every day at the BBB come in handy with many struggles of everyday life.

But even these wondrous skills can fall short if one party is hung on obstructing options at every turn. The most common time you encounter this type of resistant behavior is at the beginning of a project. You bring your goal to a table, and all this type will do is present: reasons why you will fail, regulations that state it can’t be done, or hoops you need to jump through that are often expensive and pointless. This is the person in a meeting who just sits back and brings up every possible problem that may or may not occur. They take the air out of your sails, and derail your train.

In this economic climate, creative thinking is essential to growth. Working with partners, employees and agencies that roll up their sleeves to figure out ways to make possibilities transpire is refreshing, and unfortunately, rare. Think back on all those who predicted Spokane’s Davenport Hotel renovation would be a miserable failure. Remember how many felt that the Coeur d’Alene Kroc Center would never be built?

Why, these days, are many so quick to ignore the potential of a project, only to focus on the pitfalls?

Let’s start with us. As leaders, are we actually looking for ways to make things work? Do we embrace ideas from our new, young staff members? Do we allow ideas to gain legs, try new approaches – even at the risk of failure?

If we all waited to make decisions until we were absolutely sure of the outcome, not much would ever get done, would it? When a client comes to you with something out of the ordinary, do you work to make it happen, or immediately slip into the rut of what could go wrong?

I regularly interact with hundreds of business people. It is simply one of the most fruitful dynamics of my job. Right now, there exists a great deal of frustration about “roadblocks.” Progress needs to be quick yet collaborative, but those two characteristics in partnership are in short supply. The three biggest areas of frustration are lenders, government agencies, and building departments. From a business owner’s perspective, they mostly find that these areas just say “no.”

Lenders, whether banks or credit unions, are being tied up by regulators. Caught in the middle by new legislation, they can’t be very creative until finances become more fluid. Are the regulators listening?

Government agencies and building departments are another story. The perception many have of these entities is that all they do is block progress by creating a lot of red tape. Some of the stories business people share with me about rules and conflicting department guidelines are so absurd they would be funny, were they not true. It has been said more than once that a majority of staff in some of these agencies is merely implemented to create roadblocks.

It is a sad commentary that business people approach government ready for a fight rather than traveling the road to resolution together. If we all went into planning with the mindset to keep an open mind and look for solutions, how much more we would achieve!

When I am faced with a roadblock mentality, and after I have little success moving them to collaborator, I simply sit back and ask them, “Can you help me make this happen by looking toward a solution?” I then pause and wait for their response. Sometimes, this pause allows them to hear themselves for once and quit putting up roadblocks.