Fail Your Way to Success – and Simplicity

One of the reasons there is so much complexity built into modern organizations is a deep aversion to risk.

The fear of failure, or, more specifically, the fear being blamed for a failure, causes managers to build layers and layers of checks and balances into systems and processes.

These checks and balances act like clots in the arteries of the organization, often slowing the flow of information and materials to almost nothing.

The underlying assumption in this all-to-common situation is that the only way to succeed is to remove the chance of anything going wrong.

Paul Ormerod aims to challenge that assumption in his book Why Most Things Fail. Interviewed in the most recent Harvard Business Review, Ormerod essentially argues that embracing failure is at least as likely to help an organization succeed as shying away from it – probably more so.

“The companies that are most able to explore and innovate — something akin to random mutation — and then rapidly and flexibly adapt when an innovation succeeds or fails, will do best,” he says.

Bottom line: all those complex checks and balances might help your organization feel secure, but chances are they won’t really help in the long term. So you might as well enjoy the benefits of simplicity instead.

In Search of a Simpler Work Experience

This month’s article for Business Simplification is a bit cryptic, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

I made my move two years ago. At the time I didn’t tell many people. I didn’t want to be embarrassed if it didn’t work out. I didn’t want people saying, “I told you so”. But now, two years on, it’s time I told you about my shift.

In the early days, the old place promised a lot, marketed as it was with rolling green hills, sunny skies and seemingly boundless potential for growth. By and large it delivered – at least it seemed to. The world in those days was pretty much limited to my immediate vicinity so if I was missing something I didn’t know what it was.

Over time, new buildings went up; new roads were built. I was offered many more places to go, clubs to join and things to do. It was exciting at first but soon began to feel noisy and crowded.

It became harder to get around and harder to find things. The place was becoming tangled. And rather than untangle things – rather than properly streamline things – its designers decided it would be easier to offer constant advice.

So advice came. Whether I wanted it or not. I found I was being offered unsolicited advice at every turn. Animated creatures would suggest new ways of doing things – even if I was happy with the old way. Little yellow boxes would warn me when something had changed, even if the change wasn’t relevant to me at the time.

As things became more congested, blockages started to appear. Several times a day, I would find my way unexpectedly obstructed. There was always an explanation but none of them ever made any sense. Time and time again I would be forced to back up and start again.

It got worse. As my place became more connected to other places, it got even more crowded. And with the crowds came crooks. Vandals and thieves increasingly roamed the streets; everyone started building big walls to keep them out. It just made the place feel darker.

I began to feel like I was operating in a scene from Bladerunner: modern but very dark. I decided to make the move.

And what a move! Suddenly the world opened up in front of me again. It was light and brightly coloured. It was beautifully designed. Everything felt so much simpler. It was easy to get around, easy to find things. On the very odd occasion that I was held up, it was only for a moment.

I found I was able to enjoy working again. It became intuitive – even fun – to get things done. Gone was the needless noise. Everything just worked! Better still, everyone in my new community had smiles on their faces. This was the place to be!

In truth I knew straight away that this new place, the world of the Apple Mac, was somewhere I would stay. I knew straight away that I could never go back. Life’s too short.

A Simple Truth about Work-Life Balance

Speaking of Balance, this month’s article for Business Simplification just happens to be on that topic…

It all started well for Russell. Like a growing number of busy 21st century managers, he wanted more balance. He counted himself lucky when he and his wife worked out they could afford him to cut back to four days a week. His own manager, although hesitant, opted to support him rather than risk losing years of knowledge and experience.

In the first few weeks, Russell relished the new arrangement. He was surprised at how the simple act of picking his kids up from school made him feel more a part of his own family. At how relaxed taking part in routine family conversation made him feel. He even found himself (secretly) enjoying playing umpire in sibling spats.

Meanwhile, Russell also felt that he was much more focused and productive when he was at the office. He put that down to the extra ‘headspace’ he seemed to have.

But change crept up on him. It was his wife who noticed first. Where he’d started checking his email from home once or twice a day, that grew to hourly. Twice in a row, calls to the office caused him to be late for the school pick-up. Increasingly, as before, he complained to his wife about the length of his ‘to do’ list.

Russell’s newfound work-life balance was teetering.

Then a news story prompted an epiphany. During a report about a recent bushfire, Russell heard an interview with a farmer bemoaning the loss of his fences. The farmer grumbled that without effective boundaries around and within his property, he had no control. Russell realized that the same applied to him.

He had not established any boundaries around his time. Russell’s full time colleagues worked, more or less, within the ‘natural’ boundary of the weekends. He had not – in his own mind – properly adjusted his own boundaries to fit his new circumstances. He needed to better separate his ‘work’ time from his ‘life’ time.

He had not established any boundaries around his expectations. In the past he had worked hard to manage the chronic frustration that his ‘to-do’ list always seemed to grow more quickly than he could prune it. Now, working less time, he would have to adjust his expectations further. There are only so many hours…

Finally, Russell realized that not only had he failed to properly establish his own boundaries, he hadn’t made them visible to others either. His boundaries, like a national border, would only hold when respected by those on each side of them. Making his boundaries visible would require discipline on his part, clear communication and support from others.

In short, Russell came to understand that you can’t have balance without boundaries.

It took time, but Russell built his boundaries and before long found himself, again, enjoying both more satisfying family time and a more productive approach to his work. Balance prevailed.