The Ground On The Cliff Is Cracking

Picture a train track going round and round a mountain.  The train, about to leave the station at the highest elevation, suddenly begins spiraling down the track.  The engineer is not in control and disaster is barely averted.

Maintenance teams talk a lot about locating and fixing the problem with the vehicle or the track.  They spend so much time talking and laying blame on each other that they don't get the work done.  Repairs are delayed.

Day after day and issue after issue, the train spirals down the mountainside.  The ground on the cliff is cracking from the wear and tear.  The team hired to keep the vehicles and track working stalls. The riders keep pleading.  The administration keeps chiding.  The workers keep quarreling and debating the best methods.

The structure gets worse as weeks roll by but the people hired to do the work don't care.  This is their fifteen minutes of fame and power.  They are flexing their puny muscles.  Winning arguments and displacing blame are more important to them than taking care of business and shoring up the infrastructure.  They seem to get an adrenaline rush as they barrel along the tracks over the cracking cliff.

The "shareholders" would hire a new maintenance team, but the rules don't allow it without a fight and there isn't time anyway.  So, everybody has to keep waiting for the engineer to take control and the maintenance team to decide how to fix the rip.  The team threatens each other and the riders.  They disrespect the engineer and the administration.  They somehow think the strife is cute or charming or that it endears them to the riders who seem to support their side of the quarrel.

It is regrettable, but the out of control train is the only way down the mountainside.  The riders feel stressed.  They feel helpless.  This breeds anger and lack of confidence.  As soon as they can, they will fire the maintenance group unless the team learns to cooperate, negotiate, reconcile and facilitate.

Will the team get the work done before the track falls over the cliff and the train carrying all the riders plummets to disaster?

Your call maintenance team.  Please get it done and done right this time.  The ride near the cliff is too bumpy for sure.  Do it now, not six weeks from now.  Your jobs and our patience will not weather much more of this unnecessary drama and failure.

And save the issues that have no relevance to the present situation for a later day.  Keep the cracks from becoming canyons.  And remember that plans that include unacceptable issues are no plans at all.  They are just more excuses for finger pointing.