This may sound heretical, but bare with us. Sometimes we need to forget about the past so we can successfully solve problems. That applies to alarm management solutions.
We were recently reading a leadership story in a top business publication. The topic was about “forgetting as essential to finding new, innovative solutions.” The point was, “Leaders have a lot to learn about forgetting.”
When we look at alarm management solutions, that principal applies. We have to get past issues from two, five or even 10 years ago. They are in the past. Let them go. We must move on. If we are to find innovative solutions, they are going to be based on the people we work with today, applying newer technology and techniques that have proven effective.
1+ duress for emergencies was thought to be an innovative feature 20 years ago. Today we know it’s a false alarm generating feature that never provided any real benefit. Yet sales people still love to sell it because it still sounds “innovative” or provides an “extra measure of security”… wrong! That’s why you won’t find it in advanced panels developed over the past ten years… so, what do you say… can we all forget about that one?
It’s easy to go back in your memory and say, “This worked a few years ago.” Or, conversely, “This didn’t work, so why should we try it now?” The point is that circumstances change and we should be adaptable as an industry to trying new things.
Our recent SIAC workshop at the California Alarm Association meeting several weeks ago is a prime example of how we are stepping forward to embrace new ideas, and forgetting about things that don’t work. We will be releasing a paper shortly that encapsulates new thinking and methods for us to improve how our industry operates in the years ahead.
We’re able to do this because we have to forget about some of the things that don’t work and move on to something new. In fact, those old thoughts just might make things worse.
So forget about some stuff. It might be difficult to do, because we live in our memories. They got us to where we are today. The more we open ourselves up to new ideas, the more we can find solutions that work for the electronic security industry and alarm management.