14/11/2023
Imagine the scene, you work at an Indian railway company and you guys have a giant problem, your company has been facing a concerning number of derailments, trains hitting elephants, not only killing the animals but threatening hundreds of human lives each time and laying waste to valuable cargo.
In times like these, brainstorming for solutions takes place and this time was no different. Except that, just imagine the magnitude of some of the proposed solutions proposed:
"Let's create concrete barriers strong enough, tall enough and long enough to stop the elephants from getting to the track."
"Why don't we build new routes for the train to bypass the areas densely populated by elephants?"
I am sure you get the gist: extremely large, costly, significant time frame solutions were thrown about, but as you can imagine, these solutions were cost prohibitive, so the meetings adjourned without an attainable and actionable way forward.
Someone who had attended the meetings decided to apply their mind not to the technical aspects: the barriers, the materials, the route, the scheduling but chose instead to try and understand the mammal at the centre of the issue. By deeply understanding elephants, someone figured out that elephants had a strong and natural aversion to bees. With this understanding, came an attainable, actionable solution: "Let's get a number of loud speakers place them alongside the track in the areas densely populated by elephants and play the sound of a swarm of bees. This will keep the elephants far away from the track!"
And so, to this day, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) amongst now many others, is a much safer service due to the series of speakers along the tracks that emit the sound of large swarms of bees.
Making attainable solutions like these, that cost far less money than the alternatives, is the reason why we have developed our Uncommon Sense methodology, to give as many businesses as possible access to solutions that they otherwise may not be able to overcome due to the sometimes cost prohibitive nature of focusing only on the technicalities. Uncommon Sense focusses on a deep understanding of the key people in business (customers, team members and key stakeholders) allowing businesses like yours to innovate within your means, to turn adversity into opportunity, and to do so with the lightest touch on your very valuable resources.
We're always happy to chat to you about overcoming your biggest challenges and helping you unlock your biggest opportunities.
Have a great, solution filled day!
Image Credit: Wildlife photographer Rupak Dastidar () from a series of images titled 'Death Trap' via www.rediff.com
