A Kimchi Problem

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

I have a lot of experience facilitating psychodrama.

I heard a short story someone told me and was taken back in time to when it was created and allowed to fester for years.

The idea is to take them back in time to that moment and create a new healing solution to replace the one that they had.

I’ve often described it as ripping a Band-Aid offer off of a wound that has a lot of puss, exposing it to the light of day, and allowing it to heal from the sunlight.

The process of creating kimchi isn’t much different than creating that festering wound.

Kimchi, like the wound, is permitted to ferment for long periods underground until it is eventually removed and consumed.

Leaders often create kimchi problems by not dealing with their business issues, allowing them to fester until they can’t be avoided anymore.

I worked with and for people who ran the business that way, avoiding problems until they have to deal with them.

The staff knew of their cowardice and was frustrated by it, but they continued to avoid “confrontation” that they feared would tear the staff apart.

Instead, avoiding the problem for the staff apart, and both sides lost respect for management.