Are You Riding a Dead Horse?

Clearly these are not dead horses, but  do
you know a dead horse when you see one?

I was facilitating a change management workshop recently and one of the participants brought in this story. It made us all laugh, but later I began thinking about a few things I was doing and whether it was time to stop. I gave it to a friend for some light hearted relief, but their response was clearly a deeper and more reflective consideration.  So maybe this story is just for fun, or is there more to it than that?  You decide.

Riding a Dead Horse?


Dakota Indian tribal wisdom passed on from one generation to the next says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. 

In modern education, advice and guidance settings, a number of other dead horse strategies have been used, including: 

1. Deny the horse is dead.
2. Buy a stronger whip and beat the dead horse.
3. Change riders.
4. Appoint a committee to study the dead horse. 
5. Visit competitors to see how they ride dead horses.
6. Upgrade dead horse working conditions. 
7. Attend a Dead Horse Motivational Seminar. 
8. Discard the saddle; ride the dead horse bareback. 
9. Point the dead horse in the opposite direction and note how well he maintains his position. 
10. Reclassify the dead horse as living-impaired.
11. Compare current riding to riding before horse acquisition.
12. Factor in dead horse savings re food, water, and maintenance.
13. Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.
14. Send the dead horse to a continuing development course.
15. Compare your dead horse's performance to other companies' dead horses.
16. Do a time management study to see if lighter riders would improve productivity.
17. Purchase an after-market product to make dead horses run faster.
18. Declare that a dead horse has lower overheads and therefore runs faster.
19. Issue a corporate mission statement to develop more "passion" for the art of horse riding.
20. Form a quality focus group to find profitable uses for dead horses.
21. Gather other dead animals and announce a diversity program.
22. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

My question to you today - "is it time for you to do something different?"  Are you riding a dead horse, but have not yet realised it?