One of the defining characteristics of a Change Intelligent organisation is a culture of innovation which invites outlandish ideas and encourages failure. There’s a relentless passion for improvement that creates a work environment which nurtures imagination, values intuition and wants employees to take a leap into unknown waters.
We can all learn from our mistakes: it’s only by facing them and being honest about what went wrong that we can move forward and take a different path towards success.
At Blue Seed, we’re certain that failure is nothing to be afraid of – we just need to ensure we check in along the change journey. Is this where we want to be? Are we getting the right level of support and adoption? How can we improve that?
If we wait for feedback after the event, then it’s often too late; as increased volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity shapes our business environments, cultures that are open to continuous learning will be the winners in the new world of work.
If you haven’t yet seen this short video clip from Michael Jordan on failure and success, take a moment now.
One of our clients, a leading insurer of public and private sector workers, was keen to learn lessons after the first phase of an online rollout of declarations to a public sector fund that had an impact on 193 government agencies.
A number of factors affected the success of the project – change in sponsorship, change in project management, mixed sentiment from members of a committee driving the scheme, uncertainty in the supporting technology performance, tight timeframes and diminishing ‘windows’ for change adoption … the usual stuff.
An internal audit of the project was conducted, and our consultants held a workshop and survey with the project and business teams to work on what they could have done differently – they moved fast to learn from the mistakes made and to move on quickly.
The client engaged us afterwards to find a way to support the project’s second phase, rolling out future changes and enhancements to the customer experience and learning from the missteps of its first stage.
Failing fast and encouraging experimentation and collective learning will be the hallmarks of tomorrow’s leading organisations, while leaders will communicate visibly and on a regular basis to inspire others. All this creates space (and safety) to try things, to make mistakes and to grow.
Ask yourself: Do the leaders in your system create this space? How can you make a difference from where you are standing?
With the right help, any organisation can truly embrace change and the possibility of doing it well is absolutely within reach. We are measuring the Change Intelligence (CQ) of organisations to find out how prepared they are to lead through disruption, which is why we’ve launched the world’s first Change Intelligence Index.
The insights we’re gathering will help us to focus on additional research and make us even more targeted in the way we support our clients.
It is your time to brace for the headwinds of change and use them to propel your organisation towards its future. Now is the time to be bright and bold with a keen eye for exciting opportunities and with the right help, any organisation can truly embrace change… and the possibility of change intelligence is absolutely within reach. Read more about Blue Seed’s Change Intelligence approach.
Our purpose is to make transformational change achievable and create a lasting capability for our clients. Our unique approach empowers organisations to create the best return on investment for their change efforts.
We’ve seen that the sooner an organisation is willing to identify and address its (human) change capability needs and gaps in detail, the quicker it will be likely to reap the rewards.