Art and Science or Art and Process?

Art and science. Combining the creative right brain and the logical left brain. According to Jim Collins, maybe we need to call it "Art and Process."

In the April '09 issue of Inc., the magazine for entrepreneurs, Collins says that creating better processes is more important than building a better "mousetrap." That's something I learned the hard way in my first sales job.

Way back in the day, I started peddling computer systems for a little know CAD company out of New York. They had a great, innovative system for designing and laying out printed circuit boards. But our business practices - our processes - made it tough to work with customers. It was another "learning experience" for me.

A year later, I began work for a CAD / CAE company out of California. They had a pretty good mousetrap, but they really understood how to make it easy for the user. Their business practices were very customer friendly. They got their processes right. Lots of happy, productive customers meant that seven years later, I lead the nation in sales for that company.

Are you trying to build a perfect mousetrap at your nonprofit? Or are you more focused on making what you already have work really well?

There's always room for growth, but sometimes you've got to go with what you've got and make all those wheels spin together. It really helps if everyone is spinning their wheels in the same direction for the same ultimate goal.

Not entirely unlike cyclists in a paceline. Imagine - working together for the common good. Going further and faster with less effort. What a quaint idea.

If you're personally spinning those wheels, it's often hard to see beyond the crowd. If you're a director or manager of any type, you really need to look at the entire group relationship - and its relationships with other groups.

Creating better processes is not just an exercise in logic. It probably means digesting lots of data and finding a way to visualize it simply. Use your left brain to gather the data and your right brain to display it. Now you've got your whole brain working to improve your processes.

Imagine coordinating air traffic around the world. You have to deal with people, weather, machinery, and even the rising and setting sun. Thanks to a God's eye view from a NOAA satellite, here is global air traffic over a 24 hour period.



Your problems may be a little less complex. But if you can get a good view from 150 feet or 150 miles, you can really develop a sense of what you're trying to solve. That video from space is a thing of incredible beauty with an amazing display of dynamic information. It puts it all in perspective. The right and left sides of the brain are working as one.

Can you put your nonprofit and your partners in perspective? Do the processes in your organization need a healthy dose of BOTH art and science to make them all work well together?

Paluxy Lessons

Life is good! Did a bike ride in the hills around Glen Rose, Texas Saturday. The weather was gorgeous, the vistas beautiful, the long runs down county roads thrilling, the people among the best in the world! And the food was good. Just wished I'd slept better.

Tossed and turned in our B&B the night before the ride called the Paluxy Pedal. Wasn't sure I could really finish the 45 mile route laid out for us. If I'd be going it alone. If I'd get lost. If I'd have a flat. If I'd make it over "the wall."

The "wall" is a steep hill....a 19% grade. It is a third of a mile hill climb at about the 22 mile point in the ride.

As usual, my concerns the night before just weren't that big a deal after the sun came up. Sitting on the banks of the Paluxy River that afternoon, I had time to reflect on my lessons learned. Actually relearned. Somethings just aren't that new. They just bear repeating. Or maybe I'm just a slow learner.

Lesson numero uno: having a partner makes a HUGE difference. My best buddy, Mark, rode with me the entire way. He wasn't any more sure of being able to finish than I was. At the go / no go point about 15 miles into the ride, we both agreed to go. And we agreed that if one of us had to ask for help, we'd both ask for help. Sort of a pact to not be too macho. (As an amendment to our pact that we weren't gonna let a bunch of wienies outride us.)

Lesson numero dos: obstacles can be bigger in your mind than in person. The hill known as "the wall" was a grueling climb physically for this old guy. But it was also a big pysche job. You approach it with a steep hill sign on your right and notice the pavement changes because normal paving of this section is not possible. Your brain tells your legs, "this is not good."

You start the slow grind upwards and rapidly reach your lowest gear before you're even half way to the top. You look up to see a curve to the left which means you cannot even see the top. Your brain tells your now burning legs, "this is really not good."

Your legs yell at your brain, "NO KIDDIN' MEATHEAD...GET OFF AND WALK RIGHT NOW!"

Your brain half-way listens but keeps your head down trying not to look up in order to postpone disappointment at how much further you have to ride. Your brain also remembers other climbs that were even more disappointing because you quit just before a summit that was closer than you thought.

Your stubborn brain, though totally focused on the moment, looks up one last time, sees the top of the hill, and pleads with the legs, "just a few more turns!" The legs are too tired to talk back.

With the goal in sight, you get a few more strokes from your aching legs and actually make it to the top with a smug smile. You'd dance in celebration except that your legs would totally embarrass you...or by not working, keep you from embarrassing yourself.

These lessons apply to nonprofit organizations as well as to cyclists. Every nonprofit endeavor needs partners, allies, buddies. Can you make it alone? Maybe. But you really can go further and faster with less effort with a good partner you can trust. And if you can do that, you can do more good. (Is it about helping more people, or is it about your ego?)

There will always be hills to climb, some dauntingly steep. But you've got to try them. Even when you don't quite make it one time, it's great "ammo" for your brain to hang a little tougher a little longer so you can make it the next time. Or the next.

Keep working "heads down," focusing on the details to make things happen, but don't forget to look up to see where you're going. (Do you have a goal and a strategy on how to get there?)

In the meantime, ride safe, have fun, and try not to slobber with that big grin while you're zooming down hills.