Unintended Consequences

During a recent run on a popular trail, I watched another distant runner as he approached me. He was pushing a double stroller, and suddenly slowed, reached to the ground on his right, and then continued. When we met, I realized that he had picked up a stick and given it to one of the two toddlers in the stroller. My four kids are all well past this age, and the experienced parent inside of me wanted to stop this man and exclaim, “Mistake!” It appeared to be a classic case of a short-term solution to a problem that could have substantial unintended consequences. Of course, this is a problem for leaders as well. For the jogger, I envisioned several possible unintended consequences. The second toddler could become jealous, wanting a stick of her own and throwing a tantrum that would force the jogger to stop. Or the stick-wielding child might poke his sister or himself with the stick with even worse consequences than an interrupted run. Or he might turn it into a game: “See how many times dad will pick up the stick when I throw it to the ground.” A wise leader knows that any decision can, and often will, have unintended consequences. Addressing the concerns of one group may make another group unhappy. Or a “simple” change in one program may ripple through the entire organization. For any decision, there are always second and third-order effects. For example, an emphasis to get every member of a church to read their Bibles daily could lead to a flood of questions for the pastors around biblical interpretation. When a donor generously funds a new initiative, she may also insist on a much higher level of accountability. You can never anticipate all of the unintended consequences. But on the important decisions, you can slow down enough to ask what they may be. You can invite people with different perspectives into the decision-making process to see things that you may have missed. Of course, some of those people may be overly negative, and you will need to filter their opinions. In my case, I passed the same jogger 10 minutes later on the loop. I was surprised to see one happy toddler with a stick and the other one sound asleep. Sometimes they consequences are imaginary rather than unintended. It’s up to you to discern the difference. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>