The “Driving the Car” Joke

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A Joke About How Departments Drive the Company Car

A joke I’ve made is about how different departments in a company drive the company car:

• The Finance Department is using a road map. They’ve got it opened up right over the windshield, so they have to steer by using the rearview mirror, hoping that the curve in the road ahead is the same as the curve behind them. They can’t see what’s coming up, but they know exactly where they are going.
• The Sales Department has no clue where they’re going. They’re hunched over the steering wheel, driving flat-out, desperately swerving to avoid potholes, chickens, and little old ladies in the road. They may not know where they’re going, but they expect to get there as fast as possible.
• The Human Resources Department is less concerned with the forward movement of the car than with making sure everyone is buckled in properly and that the kids aren’t fighting in the back seat. If they have to stop to sort things out, they’re prepared to.
• The R&D Department has the car back in the shop, up on the hoist. When they finish working on it, it will be magnificent—but you can’t have it yet!

The point isn’t that one of these is right and the others are wrong. A company needs all these functions, but to be successful, they have to work well together. Everyone needs to understand the concerns of the other departments—their viewpoint, their value, and the pressures they are under.

This is one of the great benefits of the Income/Outcome simulation: in each round, everyone helps make decisions in each department. Participants realize that not only does every decision impact the bottom line, but it also affects the ability to make good decisions in other departments. For example, if Finance decides not to borrow money, then Operations can’t expand capacity, and Sales can’t go after the largest (and potentially most profitable) orders in the market.

It’s very common in an Income/Outcome workshop with cross-functional teams for a Finance manager to say:
“We have to keep prices up, or we’ll never make any money.”
Meanwhile, a Sales manager argues:
“We have to put prices down, or we’ll never make any sales.”

At least, that’s how it goes in the beginning. Frequently, by the end of the day, the Sales manager is the one arguing for raising prices, while the Finance manager is pushing to lower them. They’ve experienced driving the other department’s decisions and are busy internalizing it.

They return to their real-world positions with greater respect for the other departments and more willingness to provide rapid, accurate information and support when needed.

But about that joke:
Be careful telling it when only one department is present—they’ll feel picked on. But if you have a mixed group and they trust you enough to let you laugh at all of them, it makes a worthwhile point.

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