The Rubik's Cube Effect by Stephen Haines

I recently read an excellent article by Stephen Haines, CEO and founder of the Haines Centre for Strategic Management, which was published in Training Magazine. 

He uses the Rubik's Cube as an example of people trying to find solutions for strategic challenges   in the market place. He states that people often keep fixing one colour on one side, only to distort the other colours. Similarly, the complexity of today's world leads to unintended consequences. His answer, is a "helicopter view of life," which allows you to examine all sides of a situation.

In his article, Stephen goes on to say that people negatively impact others because they do not "understand the consequences" of what they do. In today's stressful environment, people narrow their vision. His recommendation is "systems thinking," which is about first looking at the big picture. Each move we make must consider all sides of your situation.

He poses the question: Who else to involve? Who are the key stakeholders? Stephen has put forward six steps to ensure there are no unintended consequences of your projects.

Step 1. Use a helicopter view of life and scan the future environment for possible implications for your project.

Step 2. Ask "Who else to involve?" Both internally and externally.

Step 3. Establish desired outcomes to create a vision of success.

Step 4. Develop specific goals.

Step 5. Predict the Rubik's Cube effect and the law of unintended consequences you are likely to encounter. Ask others too.

Step 6. Create core strategies and action plans for success.

He also proposes developing a matrix of unintended consequences versus proposed core strategies which often reveals the additional steps necessary.

I immediately saw a parallel in the airline revenue management environment, with my own experience addressing managements tendency to "micro-manage" in stressful times.

In times of panic, I find management focusing on individual flight departures or dates, which do not follow any patterns or trends, asking for additional investigation by Analysts. This typically requires a large amount of time spent for very little revenue gain. It also distracts from the general management of the "big picture". 

We get onto a treadmill with no end in sight. Over a short period of time, the lack of general maintenance has a much larger negative impact on the competitive position and the revenue performance. We start getting "out of control."

As Stephen suggested, we need to develop strategies and action plans which ensure that through the proper management and maintenance, we keep the machinery running smoothly and minimize any potential negative consequences. 

This includes systematic and disciplined approaches to the use of the technology, communications, reporting, analysis, evaluation, and actions, involving all the key participants.

I always appreciate your comments and ideas.