How important is it that we see the big picture? Aren’t we just a tiny piece of a much bigger picture? Surely someone else will also be working on, or tending to this issue. Well, we might be surprised how many other people think the same way.
One thing is for sure, our world is changing faster than ever before.
Everyone from the office, to the executive, and the frontline worker feels it. The pressure to deliver and be held accountable becomes even tougher with the reality of today’s environment. It can be easy to lose sight of the big picture when we operate in this state of chaos.
Perhaps you have heard the story of the three stone cutters. This ‘Parable of the Three Stonecutters’, made famous by Peter F Drucker in his 1954 book, ‘The Practice of Management’, remains one of the most powerful illustrations of the challenges faced by Leaders today: how do you create the environment within which your ‘stonemasons’ are motivated to reach beyond the task in hand and connect their mindset with the big picture vision?
It goes something like this…
One day a traveler, walking along a road, came across three stone cutters working in a quarry. Each was busy cutting a block of stone. Interested to find out what they were working on, he asked the first stone cutter what he was doing. “I am cutting a stone!” Still no wiser the traveler turned to the second stone cutter and asked him what he was doing. “I am cutting this block of stone to make sure that it’s square, and its dimensions are uniform, so that it will fit exactly in its place in a wall.” A bit closer to finding out what the stone cutters were working on but still unclear, the traveler turned to the third stone cutter. He seemed to be the happiest of the three and when asked what he was doing replied: “I am building a cathedral.”
This story reveals that there is abundant value in thinking positively and in seeing the bigger picture. Whether someone thinks they are just earning a living, or leaving a legacy, the power of positive thinking and looking at the big picture should not be overlooked. Make sure your team is seeing the vision and gets a sense of the big picture. Good leaders need the ability to show that vision and to inspire others to understand and work towards it.
View the value stream as a whole and not just it’s parts. When we hear “we’ve always done it that way”, challenge that and ask “why do we do it that way”? We might never know how challenging someone to see the big picture might change their future way of thinking. Understand that a legacy can live on, whether in the stone of a cathedral, or in the impact you made on other people.
