Eating the Halflings
“- What about them? They’re fresh… — They are not for eating!”
In his attempts to obtain a ring of power Saruman sent a unit of Uruk-hai, to track down halflings affiliated in Fellowship of the Ring and bring them back to Isengard. Having succeeded to capture two of them, the unit set out towards Orthanc. On their way back, the unit was interrupted by Orcs from Moria. Exhausted by days of running they decided to set up a camp. With no provisions left, orcs turned their attention towards the hobbits, which resulted in beheading of orcs leader and ultimately contributed to the failure of the mission.
The whole scene makes a good analogy to the struggle associated with following main goal and the temptation to deviate from the course to get some low-hanging results. When you’re constantly disappointed with not achieving your goals you might either start looking for excuses or try to adjust your goals. Your desire for gratification grows and that’s when you are likely to satisfy it by eating the halflings.
The halflings are those quick wins, easy to grasp, they’re within your reach and they may even silence your hunger… for a while. Unfortunately eating the halflings is likely to derail you from following your main goal. Eating them is addictive — you have succeeded once and you’re starting to think that this way is more suitable, more fulfilling. Why would you struggle on an unclear path when those easy wins are within your reach? It’s only after a while, that you realize your actions aren’t leading anywhere and instead of your original goal, you just pursue another halfling.
I have seen some impressive initiatives that have spread themselves too thin. In one example there was an exciting vision to transform transportation market. The idea was to eliminate the man in the middle and let algorithms do all the orchestrating. A complete shift from company’s current philosophy. One can hardly disagree that it was a right vision. Similar transformations happened all over the world.
In the beginning it seemed like everything is there. Company already had well established position in the market. Management was willing to innovate and spared no resources. Many competent people were hired who immediately bought into the vision of the market without intermediaries.
High enthusiasm has soon started to fade, as first version of a new product was released. It turned out that acquiring new customers is not going as planned. To make things worse, the existing customer base, who happened to be intermediaries that the new product was supposed to replace, were not happy with the way it has changed. Tiny cracks appeared on the company’s solid financial structure. The situation was only getting worse with customers getting more and more hostile and threatening with contracts terminations. Employees morale could hardly go any lower.
That’s when the company course started to shift. It started with a change of a narrative, the intermediaries were no longer replaceable. As a matter of fact, they become essential to an adjusted strategy. The production has also been adjusted to address their needs. The resistance softened and everyone at the company sighed with relief. From then on most of the company’s actions were targeted at making the current customer happy. A halfling has been eaten and every now and then, a new halfling appeared that adjusted the course in another way. It also meant that efforts to transform the market stopped. The big plan was put to rest by going after easier gratification.
In your attempts to innovate you are likely to encounter “shiny” opportunities. In order not to become opportunity driven, it’s important to establish a rock-solid mission and vision. They will protect you from going astray. Obviously agility is a great trait, but there is a level of decision making that shouldn’t fluctuate every time the wind blows another way. Changes on this level is not a sign of agility, but rather a poor strategy skills.
To defend yourself and stay on course make sure to manage a list of outcomes you plan to achieve. Using OKR’s or any other technique is only as efficient as your faith in them. When your goals are in line with your values and backed up with enough research you are likely to remain focused and dedicated to achieve them. That is the way to deliver those disruptive, innovative ideas. Leave the halflings in one piece and pursue the big prize.
