Rocking Chair Syndrome

A few years ago I was getting ready to go and teach my religious values and principles to the wonderful people of Chile. As I was preparing and being taught how to be a missionary, I distinctly remember one lesson from our teacher, Chris, who taught us about what he called "The rocking chair syndrome". He talked about people, and how at times we can become like a rocking chair. We are trying to take on many things at one time and become very engaged in the daily habits that we feel as though we are moving forward. However, when we look closer, we see that we are actually pushing forward, and then riding back a bit every day, just as a rocking chair. We are not actually making much progress, because the design of the rocking chair is such that it physically takes much more energy to move it forward in a geographical way.

The reason for the lesson was to teach us that we need to be more aware of what we are doing in our daily lives, and if we are actually progressing and covering ground or if we are moving back and forth like the rocking chair.

The reason that I bring this up is because I have seen the same thing happen in organizations. An organization will focus much effort on the daily grind of tasks, and lose focus of the bigger picture. No progress is made. Until we are able to look at the bigger picture, and determine how we can actually progress and cover ground, we won't be able to promote positive change or produce healthy results of conflict. It is helpful for many organizations to have a mission that they periodically review and see if they are indeed making progress to achieve the mission, or if they are just filling their days with busy work. Hopefully we are not like the rocking chair, whether that is in our personal life or whether that is in our organizational environment.