I actually heard a Maintenance Manager say once in a meeting, “We either need to put high-level alarms or drains in our water-tight electrical junction boxes.”  True story!  This statement is so wrong from several perspectives.  First, this indicates that the water-tight electrical junction boxes are not water-tight.  Thus, they pose a serious electrical short or electrocution risk!  But, just as significantly, this statement indicates that the Maintenance Manager is avoiding the real root cause of the problem and has moved to remediation without correcting the real problem.  In short, he is avoiding the real issue because that may be harder to correct than simply applying a Band-Aid.

How often do we do the same thing?  For example, your car starts dripping oil in your garage.  What do you do?  You put a piece of cardboard under your car to catch the drips and ensure that you buy extra cans of oil the next time you are in town.  You do this instead of finding the source of the leak and getting it fixed.  Or, your teenager has suddenly had a change of behavior that is worrisome.  So, instead of learning what has happened, you go into “punishment mode” to force better behavior.  One more example… you have a completely dysfunctional team.  You make accommodations, you try new approaches, you allow some team members more latitude than others, you allow some members to carry others that are not doing their share, etc., etc.  Sometimes, despite your very best efforts, the root of the problem is something you know, but the fix is difficult.  A colleague recently told the story of one of his teams that was completely dysfunctional until they replaced one member (e.g., corrected the root cause).  This completely changed the team dynamics and performance of the team.

So, the moral of this story is that sometimes, identifying and correcting the true root cause is more work than simply drilling a drain hole in your junction boxes.  However, the ultimate fix could be worth the effort.

Have a fantastic and productive day!  And, don’t forget that this could be the day…  this could still be your best day yet!