What Works for Business: Gaining smart momentum
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 07/11/2022 - 7:26am
In business, it can be easy to put the pedal to the metal and turn on autopilot out of necessity.
This is especially true in today’s environment where changing situations are requiring leaders to become more agile than ever (Edmondson, 2021). While taking action is essential to gain momentum, it’s also important to remain observant, ask questions, network, and experiment to discover solutions (Dyer, et. al, 2019).
Imagine you are like a video camera, recording whatever you see. Observation is activating the video camera but holding off on applying interpretation to it, just documenting (Senge, 2006).
After this documentation is complete, come back and come up with questions to ask to clarify the information you’ve collected (Dyer, et. al, 2019). This little bit of distance between observing the problem and questioning it can make a world of difference in your perspective.
While questioning, resist the urge to solve the problem immediately (Dyer, et. al, 2019). I used to have a bad habit of doing this because, as a leader, I wanted to get to the solution as soon as possible. I didn’t realize speed and method did not have to be mutually exclusive. The 5 Whys is a different take on the Socratic method of questioning (3M, 2022) that can help you dig into the root cause of a situation before you start asking who, what, when, where, and how. This is important because you could go down the path of solving a problem and it's the WRONG problem. If you’ve ever done that, you know what a time-waster that can be.
Another way to waste time when solving problems is to attempt to solve them alone. When you network for ideas (Dyer, et. al, 2019) you meet people, get ideas you normally wouldn’t have gotten, and best of all you aren’t facing your business problem alone (Dyer, et. al, 2019). Finally, once you do have a few solutions in mind, it’s important to experiment with them as soon as possible (Dyer, et. al, 2019). Have you ever heard the statement, “fail fast, fail often?” (Babineaux & Krumboltz, 2013) This is all about experimentation. There is a lesson in every failed experiment (Babineaux & Krumboltz, 2013). And it costs far more doing a full rollout on a solution than piloting solutions until one solves the core problem (Davidson & Buchel, 2021).
How will you gain smart momentum this week? Does this article have you thinking differently about the challenges you are facing? What new steps will you take to observe, ask questions, network, and experiment? The floor is yours Carson City.
References
3M. (2022). https://www.post-it.com/3M/en_US/post-it/ideas/articles/the-five-whys-so...
Babineaux, R., & Krumboltz, J. D. (2013). Fail fast, fail often: How losing can help you win. TarcherPerigee.
Davidson, R., & Buchel, B. (2011, September 21). The art of piloting new initiatives. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-art-of-piloting-new-initiatives/
Dyer, J., Gregersen, H., & Christensen, C. (2019). Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the five skills of disruptive innovators. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Edmondson, M. (2021). Agile Leadership in a Volatile World. Planning for Higher Education, 49(3), 1-8.
Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline : The art and practice of the learning organization. Doubleday/Currency.
About Diane Dye Hansen
Diane Dye Hansen is the Chief Management Consultant of What Works Consultants (WWC), a management consulting firm headquartered in Carson City. WWC helps service-focused companies accomplish great missions Through the practice of empathetic change management, research, process improvement, internal communication, and people operations. Diane is the author of the "Creating Critical Opportunity" workbook and a contributor to the book "Reno Rising." She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Cal State San Bernardino, a Master of Communication Management from the University of Southern California, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education (EdD) in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California. She has been a resident of Carson City for 11 years. The firm's research is released monthly on its website, www.whatworksconsultants.com
