Does Haste Really Make Waste?
Well, at least in this instance, yes. Listen to this.
Once upon a time, there was a woman who so desperately wanted to help people, that she moved too quickly and caused them to have to do extra work. It’s me. Did you already guess that?
We got a huge donation of school supplies from our local Walmart! We have kids coming back into school on Monday. Principals are swamped trying to get ready. I don’t want to add to their plate, but I don’t want to just pass out supplies where they may not be wanted or needed (check out the book When Giving Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett for more on why).
So I created a quick survey listing all the items up for grabs. I did it so quickly, that I forgot to ask the principals a VITAL question “What is your school site?” Now I created MORE work for them when time is of the essence. No one can be more disappointed in me than me. I’M SORRY PRINCIPALS!!
But maybe there are other times when haste should be the order of the day. I think our current pandemic reveals a few places where a little more haste would be nice—distribution of Payroll Protection funds, help for people facing evictions, movement of needed supplies to ill people. During a crisis, haste really does need to happen, and for that, you need a leader who is free from some of the slower aspects of democracy.
Remember the Great Depression? President Roosevelt said that within 100 days he’d get some important things done. Can you believe that? Just a little over 3 months to build brand new programs, find leaders, gather materials, print money, distribute items, hire workers etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Did he do it? Why, yes he did! Now, was the Great Depression over in those 3 months? Heavens no, but he lifted so many people out of near-death situations, that the nation was grateful to give him the power to continue making rapid decisions, and then elect him 3 more times!
Then people got concerned that he had too much power—but that’s not the point of today’s blog.
Sometimes, you need a strong leader to make quick decisions so that things get handled before things get worse. Some of our elected leaders have such expanded powers, as did leaders in business and education, so they could quickly respond to the pandemic in the best way with the evidence they had. Sure mistakes will be made and have been at all levels—because haste can indeed make waste—but in a crisis, a strong leader knows that, and still forges ahead to help as many folks as possible.
All that to say, PC Principals, are you still mad at me? :-)
October 22, 2020