How often in a contract negotiation or in a strategy discussion on the future direction of a business is the one truly vital issue everybody should focus on ignored.
It's great to have the best negotiated contract protecting risk and with lots of tough indemnities, but if this agreement does not foster the environment in which service delivery will be successful then it may not be worth the copious pages it is written on.
Similarly when trying to create a new business plan for a professional services firm focusing on new service products it might be a very good idea to find out what clients want first. It's no good developing a new service if nobody wants it. I once heard of a large technology firm being described as living in a circular walled enclosure working on new products which it would "throw over the wall" and see if anybody wanted them. Very hit or miss.
These big "missing things" are the elephant in the room, described quite succinctly on Wikipedia as "an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue."
It might be a good idea to take stock occasionally and check we are not missing something blindingly obvious.
It's great to have the best negotiated contract protecting risk and with lots of tough indemnities, but if this agreement does not foster the environment in which service delivery will be successful then it may not be worth the copious pages it is written on.
Similarly when trying to create a new business plan for a professional services firm focusing on new service products it might be a very good idea to find out what clients want first. It's no good developing a new service if nobody wants it. I once heard of a large technology firm being described as living in a circular walled enclosure working on new products which it would "throw over the wall" and see if anybody wanted them. Very hit or miss.
These big "missing things" are the elephant in the room, described quite succinctly on Wikipedia as "an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue."
It might be a good idea to take stock occasionally and check we are not missing something blindingly obvious.
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