Safe enough to try
A key theme that has emerged in my exploration of self management is that to find ways of working that best suit a team and organisation we must be prepared to test, experiment and adapt.
This was brought to the front in this week’s course through the process of prototyping. It is all well and good learning the theory but action is needed to be able to test that and gain insight and input from a range of people to really innovate and grow. There needs to be a high action threshold within an organisation that encourages trying new things, seeing how they work and then adapting or dropping those ideas. Creating that safe space to just do. Otherwise all of it is hypothetical.
A culture of openness, welcoming prototyping, creates an environment of innovation with practical solutions. It is important to remember that this won’t just happen by itself, prototyping is a learned process. It can be difficult to navigate but the results are highly rewarding.
These rewards were demonstrated by the variety of prototype ideas and the different approaches the group had this week, which for me showed even more the importance of opening it up to others and getting that broad range of thinking, experience and creativity.
When you are working as part of an organisation towards the same objectives, I think it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we all think differently and that difference can be used for improvement. Prototyping is an important way to celebrate the diversity of views and also overcome the protectiveness we may have of an idea or area of work which could be constricting it. One small way of moving from the ‘me’ to ‘we’.
We can’t be paralysed by our fear of not having a perfect idea to test or knowing what the solution is, that is the whole point of prototyping! The sociocracy principle of ‘good enough for now safe enough to try’ is absolutely key to this. It needs to nurtured and encouraged so that it really is ‘safe enough to try’ and have action.
Self management is not an off-the-shelf purchase which can be bought and used instantly. It needs to evolve over time with an organisation testing and experimenting to find what works well. That takes times and patience but it will provide the richest results.
