Experiments

This feature only applies to episodes with transcripts, which is a small number at this time.

Margaret Heffernan on how to act our way out of the status quo trap

... fresh take on what's doable, they're not very bold. They're very alert to what stands in their way. And in particular, they are very reluctant to do experiments. So they suffer from a problem, which is, they think they can think their way to the answer. And actually, you can't. The only way you find a way to...more
... what it gets you. And whether it gets you something positive or negative, you've always learned something. So, I think [there is] this reluctance to experiment - and in particular, on the part of a lot of senior managers - the tendency to require proof before the experiment. So what guarantee can you give me...more
...hink [there is] this reluctance to experiment - and in particular, on the part of a lot of senior managers - the tendency to require proof before the experiment. So what guarantee can you give me this experiment will work? Well, if you could give a guarantee, then you wouldn't need to do the experiment. Ther...more
... in particular, on the part of a lot of senior managers - the tendency to require proof before the experiment. So what guarantee can you give me this experiment will work? Well, if you could give a guarantee, then you wouldn't need to do the experiment. There's a chicken and egg problem, which is 'I want to ...more
...re the experiment. So what guarantee can you give me this experiment will work? Well, if you could give a guarantee, then you wouldn't need to do the experiment. There's a chicken and egg problem, which is 'I want to try something new'. 'Do you know if it'll work?'. 'No, well, then you can't do it'. And aski...more
...t's wrong, they can analyse how wrong it is, or even how much what's wrong is costing them, but if they have no freedom, or imagination with which to experiment, they'll never get anywhere very different....more
...ble with the status quo - and start thinking about how you could make this different. And how different could we make it? And is there a way we could experiment with it to see if it works - or if it does work, what part of it works? I think that's the only way to do it. And of course, the reason I write about...more
...agement who are traditionally structured - and I know you have worked with and written about large global organisations who have done some innovative experiments in this direction. How do you manage that? Because that's a different challenge, I imagine. Margaret Heffernan: Well it's quite interesting. I think...more

Aaron Dignan on being complexity conscious and people positive

...d if you look at them, they can actually be in tension with each other. Which is really cool. So the complexity conscious mindset might lead us to do experiments that have real costs - experiments where people fail, where people have to be fired, or where people lose their jobs or we do whatever it takes to su...more
...ually be in tension with each other. Which is really cool. So the complexity conscious mindset might lead us to do experiments that have real costs - experiments where people fail, where people have to be fired, or where people lose their jobs or we do whatever it takes to succeed in the market by doing all th...more
...he exact same state of mind, or in the same stage of life - that's crazy. So to do that, and say we're in the burning platform stage, or we're in the experiment stage - you know, some of us are. Some of us are way ahead, some of us are behind, some of us are left some of us are right. The context is different...more
...aybe they won't work for us, we'll find out. But it has been somewhat proven that we can pair with those tensions. And that's the basis of your first experiment. So a lot of teams that we'll work with - here's a tension, here's a few practices we're willing to consider - now you have everything you need to g...more
...lot of teams that we'll work with - here's a tension, here's a few practices we're willing to consider - now you have everything you need to go do an experiment. Who is will try that? How long will they try it for? How will you know if it worked? And so then the wheels have been put on the bus and we can move...more
..., of course, scale them - bring them to life. Start by starting - just do something, start that looping process of going from tension to practice to experiment to learning to what's next. And then look for what's next after that, and keep following the thread. And if you find that you and your team or you an...more
... structures, roles, rules that are in the way. There are things that are holding you back that you could get rid of and not replace. What a powerful experiment that is. So let's not do this stupid meeting, let's not have this policy that doesn't trust people. And then see what fills the space. And if we trea...more
...er or done a smaller version of it or tested it or gotten advice or, you know, something else. So I think, make decisions when you have to, and start experiments all the time....more

Frederic Laloux with an invitation to reclaim integrity and aliveness

...that cognitive dissonance. And power structures and hierarchies is one of the things that keeps that in place. So there’s an example of nurses in an experiment who are given instructions over the phone from a senior doctor that they haven’t met to deliver a lethal dose of an injection to a patient, and a lar...more
...cathlon is doing it is that it’s not a top-down sustainability programme. But they were just encouraging everyone in the organisation to go and do an experiment. And so we’re really bold and really honest with [the face that] we’re part of the problem. And let’s just everybody, do whatever you can and experim...more
...eriment. And so we’re really bold and really honest with [the face that] we’re part of the problem. And let’s just everybody, do whatever you can and experiment and play and change. And **suddenly there’s a vibrancy and empowerment **of like, “Wow, these people are doing that, and we’re copying this and this ...more

Lisa Gill and Mark Eddleston celebrate 50 episodes of Leadermorphosis

...e who has decision-making power, if you're in the middle of an organisation, I still think that you have some power and agency to do some trojan mice experiments, and that's why I love Liberating Structures; that you can always influence things and be intrapreneurial: "Why is this important to me? What could b...more
...rk Eddleston: It can be a big first step, can't it? Finding the courage and the bravery to suggest a different way of having a meeting and perhaps to experiment with Liberating Structures. But I think we've got the evidence to show that: I think there's the well worn Gallup Stat that 85% of us are disengaged ...more
...s about the cost of bureaucracy; it's not working anyway, so it's like, what have you got to lose? It's worth trying something, isn't it? Do a pilot, experiment with something. I think that's a key mindset shift - it's not about this kind of old way of thinking about change, where you change the whole thing a...more

Jorge Silva on horizontal structures and participatory culture at 10Pines

... and trying to see what happens, and to validate if they can change or how much they can change and how much they don't. So it's a really interesting experiment for me to see how this goes. So I will tell you in the future....more
...or my job, or we can’t do that - it is impossible. And the message here is that you have to start with little things, with small things, with a small experiment - learn, try again, and so on. And I think this is the magic of evolving, right? You have to at least try to do something small enough. And, and then...more

Amy Edmondson on psychological safety and the future of work

... absolutely critical to implement? This is what I’m excited about and what I’m working on next. I want to find one or more organisational partners to experiment together. The problem with this is it doesn’t submit very well to normal science research. You can’t just say: “OK we’re gonna test, make sure A caus...more

Keith McCandless and Henri Lipmanowicz on acting your way into a new kind of organising with Liberating Structures

...that you have to innovate. And the only way to innovate is to include the people that are in a position to do that, and let them try things, let them experiment. Because you're dealing with things where you don't know. You cannot know ahead of time that this is the right thing to do. And that already is a ver...more