Business Sense is Not Horse Sense!

People often say use your "horse sense" or common sense when approaching issues related to business. Effective businesses must not only use their common sense but also their short and long-term planning skills. This sometimes means looking "outside of the box" for additional information and ideas that will help the business grow and become more effective.

Common sense is a benefit for any individual or business entity. Common sense tells you the way you should respond in any given situation. It will give you the normal response that would be expected when faced with a decision or difficulty. Common sense is like the guideline for response and action under a particular set of realities and circumstances.

In any business or organization people act and respond according to the organizational culture, the perceptions of others of the decision that was made, as well as the criticalness of the decision. This is called the "reality" of the organization. As the realities change so does the concept of common sense. This is one of the reasons why new employees that are not aware of the "realities" often appear to make decisions that aren't logical.

In order to change the common response or common sense in an organization it is necessary to change the realities of the organization. Often this means changing the compensation structure, the nature of the jobs, the reward system, decision making abilities, and much more. When companies go through a transformational change they do so because the realities have changed for their employees and their behavior followed suit.

Thus, common sense isn't always common. What is common sense in one organization may not make sense in another organization. People often base their decisions on very rational realities such as how they are rewarded, the fear of punishment, losing their job, or scolding. The rational choices and realities must change within a company in order to have the largest impact.