There are many variations of the the phrase ‘its not the destination that’s important but the journey taken’.

This can be taken many ways, for example it could be seen literally as a trans-continental train journey that you sleep through and miss the view out of the window. Another example, taken from my martial arts world is that you focus on achieving a black belt without absorbing the skills and knowledge you gain along the way. In both cases the end result is achieved, at a bare minimum, but much of the (potential) value is lost.

Recently however I have considered the value of the journey when it comes to people. Building on the discussion points in my previous post A Bird In the Hand, I have been considering the value created in the journey as opposed to the end product.

Whilst deliverable ‘x’ might be the end result, the journey to get to it is where the real business value lies. Creating something seemingly simple involves:

• Thought
• Design
• Decision making
• Knowledge Acquisition
• Theory testing
• Refinement

Those and many other micro-processes, done almost without consciousness by a skilled and experienced professional, go into the production of the most simple of outputs that have been done before through to the most complex, currently untrod pathways.

Crucially (and never is this more prevalent than in IT where documentation is the enemy), a vast majority of these micro-processes take place in the most complex computing facility the organisation has, the human brain. This fabulous device is not a cookie cutter and even the most repeatable of tasks has various, almost imperceptible assessments as part of its makeup.

Given the above, and the understanding that some of your most valuable corporate assets are held within grey matter storage, it makes sense to spend a good portion of your time protecting, developing and retaining the containers that storage comes in – don’t you think?