Try Something New

When Dave’s team didn’t make their goal for the third time, he was ready to either fire everyone or give up altogether.

Good thing Dave didn’t make a rash decision, because the situation didn’t call for an all-or-nothing course of action.

When something is not working, we tend toward three extremes. We sometimes hope the problem will not repeat and recycle our patterns. We expect to fix our complicated problems immediately with a “correct” decision. Or we quit in frustration, incorrectly concluding we don’t have what it takes.

Solving our problems and achieving results is a worthy goal. Sometimes we need a fresh start. Other times we may need to quit. But usually a more constructive first step would be to simply try something new.

Some one thing. One new thing at a time.

Try experimenting on a smaller, more manageable scale. Adjust your current business practices little by little. Take time, practice creativity, and use yourself as a case study. Test reactions to smaller changes before moving on to larger ones.

Making adjustments incrementally will slow you down so you can ask questions like, “Why do we do it this way?” Appreciating the rationale for current practices can free us to try new practices without abandoning the wisdom of what has been designed before.

Banging your head against the same wall won’t give you different results. It will give you one severe headache, along with the accompanying disappointment and frustration. Try something new. Experiment and take risks. But do so on a manageable scale. You will watch yourself learn and grow, and the entire team will become more effective in the process.