The Sisyphus Syndrome can cause  your normally smart organization to do some stupid things that work against its success

By Bernard Ross

A Moment of Whimsy — but Worth a Thought

“If the horse is dead you should dismount …”

The above is an example of ancient tribal wisdom from the Dakota plains peoples. I love it. It’s simple, straightforward, patently true and eminently sensible. When I first heard it I had a playful moment composing how a charity might respond to this piece of wisdom, thinking it was too simple or too challenging. Below is my ironic, but maybe close to the truth, take on how a charity might respond (extracted from my book, “Breakthrough Thinking.”) Do you see your organization’s response here? If so, what can you do about it?

1. Buy a stronger whip to see if we can improve performance.

2. Change riders to get a better match of styles.

3. Declare as a core value, “This is the way we have always ridden this horse, and it fits with our culture.”

4. Appoint consultants to study the horse and come up with creative uses for it.

5. Arrange to visit other charities or, better still, private-sector organizations to see how they ride dead horses.

6. Rewrite the performance standards to incorporate riding dead horses.

7. Create a training program to help people ride dead horses.

8. Alter the staff handbook to outlaw the use of the phrase “dead horse” as oppressive and judgmental.

9. Form a project team to find uses for dead horses.

10. Promote the dead horse to a management position or create a special project role for it.

— Bernard Ross

As a consultant, I sometimes feel like a morbid ambulance chaser. I make a career from working with organizations with serious problems. Now, some problems I don't mind — we all make mistakes. But some organizations seem trapped in a sisyphean cycle of not just making mistakes but repeating the same mistakes again and again. For example: