How many times have you said or heard someone tell you that “it should work, in theory”? Usually, in my experience, that is said right after it hasn’t worked.
It is a great phrase when used as a call to a greater investigation, to roll your sleeves up and make the thing work. It encourages learning and building of experience. I have often wrestled with some DIY activity to realise that the problem was, in fact, a schoolboy error. But it is an error I have learnt from and hopefully will not make again – it’s experience!
Sometimes I don’t have the time or inclination (or maybe no clue where to start) to investigate why the theory isn’t working and have to admit defeat. Worse, I or my pride, think we know what the problem is and wade in; until we finally admit defeat. “This’ll only take a minute” will probably be on my gravestone.
Buy Cheap, Buy Twice
So much wasted time and potentially money. For some reason, this seems to happen when looking at my son’s car with him, and we end up having to get professional mechanics involved. We once tried to replace a failing Nitrous Oxide sensor with a “money-saving” one from a breaker’s yard. The replacement didn’t work either but produced different error codes from the first, so we kept on swapping them around and trying to get either of them to work (with a couple of MOT tests in between to see if we’d fixed the original emissions issue, which we didn’t have the equipment to measure).
Eventually, we had to admit defeat and went to the mechanics. I’m ashamed to admit that the (obvious with hindsight and experience) recommendation was to buy a new sensor that would work or be guaranteed if not. So, what ended up costing about £650 could have been sorted for less than £500 if only I’d taken advice from the beginning.
Please, no one say “buy cheap, buy twice” to me ever again!
Experience is Key
Of course, I could have kicked it into the long grass unresolved and persuaded my son to live with the issue, but definitely not for long as the MOT was fast running out, and he wasn’t much up for cycling.
I tried putting an issue with our central heating controls on the back burner once (pun intended) until it got really cold, and the whole family rebelled…
Someone recently said to me that “IT TAKES EXPERIENCE TO TURN THEORY INTO REALITY” which got me thinking (as it was designed to). That is true of the scenarios with my son’s car and so many other things. I need to learn when to get the experienced professionals involved to get things fixed and, even better, enhanced. Why do I find it so frustrating when they solve an issue quickly and effectively? Because they have the experience that I don’t have, but I wish I did. I’m admitting it can be a pride thing! And gaining experience can’t be short-circuited; it takes time.
Turning Theory into Reality
How much is that also true in our working lives? Are you living with issues in your business – where the theory says things should be fine, but the reality isn’t like that? Experience makes such a difference, and that’s no less the case than in our field of work.
Theoretically, a business management system should bring multiple benefits and make your business operation smooth and comparatively easy. But these systems can be complex beasts; it takes experience to make that theory a reality. Knowing when to admit you need help is an important piece of self-awareness.
So get us involved! We have a lot of experience (gained at the cutting edge of systems implementation and management) and a host of appropriate tools and techniques to identify and resolve issues with your processes and systems and to help you realise the improvements you’ve always thought (or been told) should be available, in theory.
If you want to talk more, then contact us for a chat. We can help you ensure that theory and practice match up!