Organisational Development | Learning Organisation

Long live the joy of experimentation!

From Sabine Walter

He originally wanted to book a photography course. In May. On Spiekeroog. The topic: creative photography. Corona put a spanner in the works. No travelling. No Spiekeroog. No photography course. But the fascination of using and expanding his photography in new ways drove him on. And so he researched. And experimented. And ... developed something entirely his own. Lux Scriptum. Lines of light. Something you can't see with the naked eye. Only with the help of the camera do these images become reality. - That which Claus Pescha, photographer and web designer from Dießen am Ammersee, is something we need to cultivate in companies, in schools, universities, in organisations, indeed in our society. Experimentation. To have the muse and the courage to leave the familiar and dive into the new. What do we need for this?

I think we have all had a common experience in the last few weeks: experimentation defined a large part of our everyday lives. Trying out new things, starting an exploratory process with an open mind, continuously refining it until the result is something we are satisfied with, is an important competence. We all have them, albeit in varying degrees. For companies, the Culture of experimentation increasingly important - also or especially during and after crises. But how can this culture be established in companies?? This requires Seven elementary factors:

Experimentation - Success Factor 1

An open attitude and an alert eye

We will only experiment if we fundamentally Open for new things are and Interest in own further development have. Basically, we humans are born with great curiosity - this shows how quickly babies and toddlers develop. In order for people to maintain this over the course of their lives and especially their professional lives, it takes a Environment that allows for a certain degree of self-realisation - so the Free design of how the paths to the goal look like. Furthermore, it needs a Diversity of experience, perspectives, opinions, to be able to set impulses. And it needs Imagination. We preserve imagination when dreaming is allowed. But imagination also needs training, imagination needs the interconnected work of both hemispheres of the brain. That can be trained.

Experimentation - Success Factor 2

Intrinsic motivation

In addition to an open attitude and an alert eye, a strong sense of responsibility is required. intrinsic Motivation. For that alone is the engineto stick to one thing. To experience and perceive a subject from different perspectives. To change details, to analyse the result. To go back to the beginning and start again and again.

Experimentation - Success Factor 3

Courage to jump into cold water

New things will only emerge if we are prepared to leave the old familiar. Not only to change easily, but to question safe structures, established approaches and proven methods, to throw them overboard and start again. Green meadow. Anything goes, everything is allowed.

In this new beginning Being alone an advantage be. You are not accountable to anyone. No one laughs at you. No one gives you advice you don't need. No one asks questions and wants to know when the result will finally be on the table. There is no competition, no pressure. You're done when you're done.

But trying it out alone can also be a disadvantage. There is no group to support you, to encourage you, to lift you up when you have setbacks. There is no one who thinks along with you. There are no sparring partners who also tinker, develop and question. The opportunity that lies in diversity is lost, External impulses are rare.

No matter whether experimenting alone or in a team. It always takes courage to jump into the deep end, to move out of the comfort zone. It takes courage and thus self-confidence. Self-confidence in one's own abilities. Self-confidence that endures even when things don't work out the way you wanted and imagined. It takes courage to take time - even to "throw it out of the window". It takes courage to deal with setbacks and the strong confidence that at some point you will succeed.

And it needs something else: inner independence from the opinion of others.

Experimentation - Success Factor 4

Time to search

Creativity, innovation and even experimentation do not follow the rigid laws of efficiency or productivity. On the contrary. Pressure in any form, including time pressure, works against new ideas.

Now some of you may say. But at Corona we had pressure. We had to. That's true. But we only had pressure to change something. The result didn't have to be perfect.

And that is often where the error lies: Yes, it sometimes needs an initial push. A pressure that Urgency to act creates. A pressure that makes it clear. Change is imperative. Now! This pressure should always answer the questions: "Why is action necessary? What happens if we remain in the status quo?" If that is clear, then time and space are needed to start the game of ideas and to dive into the fascination of experimentation.

Experimentation - Success Factor 5

Rooms

Experimentation needs spaces. What spaces do I mean? Of course it needs the Physical creative spaces and laboratories that inspire, stimulate and enable. But above all it needs mental Rooms, it needs Communication and decision-making spaces. It needs:

• the space for sparring, for discussion.
• to perceive the space, to let it work.
• the space to work in an open-ended way.
• to be the space without being judged.

And above all, it needs space to be able to completely shape how the experimentation takes place. The path is the goal. It is not prescribed, nor is it looked at and evaluated in detail. It is the responsibility of the person experimenting to let others participate in his process. He determines how much feedback he asks for, he determines the pace.

Experimentation - Success Factor 6

Expertise

Of course, experimentation also requires expertise. Expertise in a particular area - this does not have to be the area of experimentation, but there should be an intersection. Why? Without any expertise, we will not perceive certain things. If we do not perceive them, we cannot question them. We cannot develop them further or put them into other contexts. Too much expertise in the subject area of the experiment, on the other hand, makes one blind. We then slip - without wanting to - back into the tried and tested and the familiar. This will hardly create anything new.

This argues for experimenting in teams. Teams , in which the members have different knowledge, have gathered different experiences and thus something fruitful emerges from these different perspectives and the exchange about them.

However, this can only succeed if there is a strong basis of trust in this team, thus guaranteeing psychological security. Otherwise, people don't think outside the box, they don't ask "stupid" questions. But that's exactly what experimentation is all about.

Experimentation - Success Factor 7

Lessons Learned

Every experimental process should be analysed in the meantime and in retrospect. What were factors that encouraged experimentation? What form of exchange was helpful? How strong was our trust in the team? What inhibited or hindered? What will we keep for next time? What do we need to change in the future?

Carrying out such a learning process requires the ability to separate the result from the process. Because the focus of the lessons learned is the process. That is why it makes sense at this point, the team around an experienced moderator that was not part of the experimentation, but rather has only the task of guiding through the lessons learned process and ensuring that the findings are documented in such a way that they can be used as an impulse for future creative processes.

Conclusion - establishing experimentation in companies

What does this mean for companies?

1. Companies need a Culture of trustwhich ensures psychological safety and thus enables lateral thinking and experimentation.
2. Companies need a Error culture which enables employees and managers to try out new things without fear.
3. Companies need Diversity - also in the form of cooperation.
4. Companies need Laboratories and scope.
5. Companies need a different way of leading. Away from detailed controls and process specifications towards motivating objectives that invite everyone to be involved with their head and heart.

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