In our current world where the only constant is change, there are so many aspects to our daily lives that, from time to time, need a total overhaul. Organisational transformations, personal outlooks and daily habits to name but a few.
Too often we tweak or slightly adjust something that we know, truly know inside, should just be started again from a blank sheet. But starting from scratch is a really tough thing to do because it requires the acknowledgment that what exists at the moment just isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s a difficult position for us to take mentally, when we may have a huge amount invested in the current endeavour. It seems to go against the grain of our natural human behaviours, and the behaviours instilled in us by many corporate cultures, where we often have a need for vindication or to be proven right — a self-righteousness that seems to grow over time.
How do we admit to ourselves (or the organisations that we lead) that what we are doing now, how we’re operating and behaving now, is no longer right?
If we believe that our endeavours are truly aspirational, then following these 3 simple steps can doing nothing but help embed your Growth Mindset.
“Aim for the highest cloud so that if you miss it, you will hit a lofty mountain.”
Maori Proverb
1. 10x Thinking
This is a concept that is used throughout Google and drives an innovation culture worthy of great expectation. The key premise here is to think about improving something by 10x rather than by 10%. For example:
If you have a brand new car, straight off the production line. And you set yourself and your team an objective to increase the speed of the car by 10%. you would quickly begin by looking at engine tuning and weight loss on the body work.
However if your objective was to make the car 10x faster, you would approach the problem with a very different outlook. You would take nothing for granted and look at replacing major components rather than just tweaking them.
The resultant vehicle may not achieve 1000mph, but some of the learning and development along the way would test the bounds of teamwork, technology and science to get there. Meaning that for the next challenge the team faces, a greater amount has been learnt overall
2. XYZ Questioning
This gets you to learn from others and push the bounds of you or your organisations established / fixed views about feasibility. Whilst the outcome of your attempt may not scale on the same level, it will surface key learning that can support positive progress. The construct of this question is ‘if X can do Y, why can’t Z?’ — For example:
If Coca Cola can get to the deepest and darkest parts of the African jungle, why can’t humanitarian aid?
If JK Rowling can write a best selling book, why can’t I?
3. Antithetical Observations
Look at someone or an organisation that is completely obscure or opposite in its nature. For instance, what is it that made Pablo Escobar so successful? Or what is it about organised crime that means they’ve continually outwitted, innovated and improved to keep themselves one step ahead of the law. Considering many industries are facing disruption, should it not naturally follow that some of the best places to learn from are industries and organisations that have kept themselves ahead of their own destruction?
Finally
Invest the time to genuinely internalise what you’ve learnt through the process. And there can be no innovation without sharing, so get the message of your learning out there to colleagues. There can be no reinvention without innovation, so once you’ve got the innovation ideas running, it’s time to follow through with action.
“It’s your Transformation, make it happen, shock everyone!”
Please comment & share and let me know what you think — have i missed something, would you like me to elaborate on anything or have you got any questions?