Why can’t we close the asset renewal gap?
For decades, as asset management practitioners we’ve argued the case to decision makers and politicians one the need to close the renewal gap.
We’ve highlighted the risks. We’ve developed frameworks. We’ve presented the logic.
So why then, are we still grappling with the challenge of asset renewal gap.
It is hard to believe that we know what needs to be done, and yet we still can’t get seem to address it.
That’s because the asset renewal gap is not an infrastructure problem. It’s not a capability problem. It’s not a financial problem.
It is a human problem.
Albert Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”
We know what needs to be done. We’ve developed solutions to the technical problems. The technical aspects of the asset renewal gap.
But we’ve not yet solved the real problem, the adaptive challenges, that enables the the asset renewal gap to keep its stranglehold: The Psychology behind the Renewal Gap.
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The most common cause of failure in leadership is produced by treating adaptive challenges as if they were technical problems.
Adaptive challenges can only be addressed through changes in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties.
But how often do we rely on data, information and logic – the technical stuff – to influence decision makers. To get them to do what needs to be done to address the renewal gap.
This paper makes the case that the real problem behind why we cannot seem to make inroads to address the asset renewal gap – is because it is an adaptive problem, it’s a psychological problem – that requires an adaptive solutions, not just technical ones.
Yes, the technical solutions are part of the puzzle, but asset management practitioners need to understand the psychology behind the asset renewal gap and why this continues to be the real challenge in addressing the gap.
This presentation will explore some of the psychological concepts and adaptive barriers to addressing the renewal gap, which will include, but not be limited to:
When engineers and asset management practitioners can begin to bring both the solid technical solutions to the asset renewal gap, as well as influencing the psychology behind the renewal gap, we will see real change for the benefit of both our current and future generations.