Fail early and often to succeed sooner is a Design Thinking principle. The rationale behind it is that we cannot create something really new, if we don’t allow ourselves to fail. Instead, we have to stick to what’s already been tried and tested elsewhere.
Of course, we can…
According to a large survey of multinationals by Gartner 69% of employees don’t believe in their leaders’ cultural goals. 87% don’t understand them. And 90% don’t behave in alignment with them.
Whoops!
Those same multinationals invest an average of 2200 US$ per employee a year into culture change initiatives.
What’s the first thought …
At Choose Leadership, we always start from Purpose. Be it in our work with individuals, teams, or organisations. The reason is simple:
Purpose is the ultimate WHY – the reason for which something is done or created. When leaders don’t connect to why it really matters, they might well decide to have the important conversation, or finally make that important decision. But then urgent things get in the way. They end up distracted, and … drift.
That’s why…
Peter Drucker, the well-known pioneer of management education, once said:
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Let’s leave aside whether that is true or not, and focus on the meaning of culture.
People don’t even think about those habits, but unconsciously perform them. When questioned, they are “the way things are done here”.