Crisis Linked to Silent Problems
Where were the stock market analysts prior to the collapse of the sub-prime market? Weren’t they supposed to protect investor money against such financial disasters? Were they simply asleep at the wheel, and didn’t see it coming? Or were some aware, yet when they cried “Wolf,” were they simply not heard or their cries unheeded?
A New York Post article titled, Star Power Dimming At Some Street Firms by Mark DeCambre suggests it’s the latter. DeCambre writes, “A growing number of analysts who were either critical of the financial sector or were early raisers of red flags in the mortgage market are getting the cold shoulder from their employers, which has led to the analysts being forced out or silenced.”
Today, we understand the impact of these voices “being forced out or silenced.” Today, millions of people have been exposed to problems similar to the sub-prime crisis. Author Rodney Johnson in his book Without Warning refers to such incidents as silent problems. He advances that silent problem are more likely to jeopardize an organization’s future than any other problem type. He writes that silent problems often go unsolved because of their dangerous characteristics. For instance, silent problems often
- are undisciplined, unruly, disobedient, disruptive and resistant to change
- contain their own set of rules, regulations, and norms
- contain elements of ego, bullying, tradition and cultural norms,
- grow in size, morph in scope, and become virulent over time.
Whether evaluating the sub-prime crisis, ponzi schemes like Madoff or Stanford, or the downfall of Chrysler and GM, silent problems were critical factors associated with each.
Johnson claims that organizations are equally impacted by the problems they decide to solve and those they choose to avoid. He professes that organizations must encourage and empower employees to unearth and identify the silent problems in their midst, and that these individuals must be assured they are safe and their solutions honored if they come forward. Only when silent problems are considered important to the future of the organization, will the resources and energy to solve them emerge.
