MSA Research Inc., CatIQ and Northwinds Professional Institute moved to modern new offices at 120 Adelaide St. W., Suite 1420 in July 2018. Joel Baker determined that a signature piece of art would be a great addition to the entrance foyer which was also adjacent to the glass fronted Boardroom. Those who know Joel well will be aware that in addition to his technical and entrepreneurial skills he also has a great interest in management and motivational theory. He and I had several times discussed the expression “Pushing on a String” as a metaphor or analogy describing some of the challenges inherent in moving a project forward to completion. Joel suggested at one point that my wife Diane, who had previously completed several paintings for the company Boardroom and created annual Holiday Cards featuring her art, might design and build a sculpture to represent this concept. The challenge was enthusiastically accepted and the installation was completed shortly after the companies moved into their new quarters.

The sculpture has quickly become a wonderful conversation piece as well as an interesting and colourful wall decoration. For those less familiar with the phrase “Pushing on a String”, I provide a few thoughts below.

There is an ecomomic theory application of this phrase dealing with the impact of stimulus funding and money supply, but we’ll leave that one in the corner for now. At its root, the management application compares the obvious futility of pushing on a flexible string, which only bunches up, to the concept of pushing employees from behind without proper support. If pushing on a string is seen as an unsuccessful approach, what are the alternatives? This sculpture is intended to illustrate several perhaps simplistic, yet tried and proven techniques, for moving a project forward.

The most obvious solution to a stalled project might be to move both supervisors and staff around to the front of the string and have all pulling together for the common goal. No bunching up of the string, and employees will respond well to being led by example. If this is not practical (the string in the sculpture disappears into a partly open door), then cutting the string into multiple strands is another option. Split the task into multiple components and introduce the concept of teamwork. Even better, interweave these parallel work streams by braiding the strands into a stronger rope as has been done in the sculpture. This represents the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. These last two strategies still leave the challenge of how to add more strength to the still flexible braided string. At this point it becomes necessary to address the composition of the string. In the physical world of our analogy, the string must be strengthened. One option would be to freeze it, but that is a transitory solution. Another would be to add strength such as a steel core. This is exactly what Diane has done to the rope in the sculpture. In a management context, strength can be added through education and training, the use of appropriate tools and technology and strategic recruiting.

In the sculpture a bright and inspiring abstract painted by Diane is partly hidden behind the door, representing the joy and satisfaction of a successfully completed project.