Experimentation: An Orientation to Transform Your Company

How often do you think of your daily work activities as conducting experiments? In today’s fast-paced, non-linear world there is more pressure than ever to deliver value quickly. Trouble is, much gets in the way of value delivery – fragmented processes, incongruent priorities between and amongst departments and units, and misaligned metrics just to name a few.

So, how can an individual, team, or department buck these obstacles to achieve success? The answer, in a word, is – experimentation!

Before we get too deep, let’s get clear on what it means to experiment. An experiment is very simply a change one introduces into a system to understand the effects of that change on the system – presumably with the goal of improving the system. For example, a team may introduce a new operational metric to assess the level of quality of inputs handed off to it from an upstream, internal supplier.

And from this data, such team might then be able to influence, drive needed behavioral shifts (of that upstream supplier) to improve their quality thereby reducing overall process cycle time, costs-per-unit, while increasing customer satisfaction, among other things. As the saying goes, “you don’t know what is going to happen if you never try” and such is the spirit (essence) of conducting experiments; of experimentation. We introduce small changes into our operations (or some aspect of our operations) and then monitor and evaluate the results.

If the change results in little to no improvement, no harm, no foul – we learn from our failure and design anew. If the change results in hoped-for improvement, voila! We learn from the success and try to amplify the results further.

It is both liberating and beneficial to think of all of what you do (or nearly all of what you do) as conducting experiments. Now, while not every-THING you do in the course of a day, week, month will qualify as an experiment, per se, certainly, much of what you do could be thought of in this manner. You may now be asking, why would I want to do this?

What is the value in thinking of one’s work as conducting (a series of) experiments? There are many subtle, yet significant [seeing – thinking – acting] shifts that occur when we simply re-frame our work as us conducting experiments: Seeing Shifts: we begin to see opportunities whereas before all we saw was obstacles; we begin to see the value in introducing micro-improvements; of learning-in-the-flow-of-work (note: courtesy of Josh Bersin); we begin to see how daily continuous improvement can transform a business; can lead to establishing a real competitive advantage in the marketplace (think: Toyota Motor Corp). Thinking Shifts: we begin to think more scientifically; as in “what do I expect to happen if I do X?”; we begin to think more creatively, holistically when designing experiments; we begin to introduce innovative thoughts that previously sat dormant within us; we begin to think in terms of cause and effect; thus strengthening our critical reasoning skills/abilities; we begin to develop a ‘systems thinking’ capability; to see around (that is, all sides of…) a problem, or issue, or context – which helps us become better problem solvers, etc.

Acting Shifts: we begin to pause more; to ask deeply reflective questions like “what are my key learnings here?” and “what can I do differently next time?”; we begin to question more; both of ourselves and others (in a rigorous but friendly manner) to penetrate to root-cause; to addressing structural elements; we begin to record (log) our operational experiments to learn and grow from; we begin to anticipate certain outcomes; looking for disconfirming data/results. As you can see, many benefits accrue to us individually (and, therefore, by extension to the whole company) by simply reorienting how we view our work from just ‘work’ to conducting ‘experiments’. It is exciting to think of one-self as a scientist; to experiment; to have the freedom to conduct hypothetical tests to try to improve the business.

This is how Amazon exploded from being a (losing) start-up to becoming the industry leader that it is today; 1000s of people conducting daily experiments to elevate the company. If such an approach worked for Amazon, it can work for you. Therefore, choose today to think and operate with a mindset of experimentation – you will be glad you did.

Related Reading

• Creating the Conditions for Excellence

• Cultural Transformation: 4 Levers for an Industry of One

• You Cannot Plan Your Way Through a Transformation

Facing a complex change challenge in your organization? Book an OD consultation with Henosis Partners.