Putting upstream thinking into practice

A man and his friend were having a picnic by the riverside, and all of a sudden, they heard a scream. A child was in the water, likely drowning.

Quickly, on instinct, both jump and swim towards the child and rescue him. As they leave the water, they hear another scream. A second child was in the water, also about to drown.

They rush back into the water to save the child and hear yet another scream. Yet another child. Yet again, they rush back in.

After rescuing several children, the friend gets out of the water, leaving the man. The man shouts “Where are you going? There are more children to save!” The friend replies “I’m going upstream, I want to find out who’s tossing these kids into the water!”

This parable is the premise of the book “Upstream Thinking” by Dan Heath.

How many times, at work, do we get so engrossed with putting out fires and reactive tasks, that we never stop to question, “Why are all these errors happening in the first place? What is the source of these recurring issues?”

The charge this week is to practice upstream thinking. Think about how to stop the fire in the first place. This is more valuable in the long run.