Wonder

Today, go and wonder. Try to look at your organization as if you are coming in for the first time. Ask yourself why you do things the way you do. Investigate and discover the strange things in your organization. Things you have come to find normal but when you think about it are actually not so normal at all. For example: always wanting to decide everything together, consistently missing deadlines, or accepting that agreements are not met (can happen, right?). Or accepting fixed work-from-home days where someone no longer comes to the office. In your research, especially look at the short cuts in the organization. Which paths are walked that are not in the processes and procedures? Which corners are cut to get to the goal faster or to go around annoying objects? What is not being talked about? What would the crew prefer? What is needed to get there? How can we connect the needs of the crew to the goals from the organization to become responsive? What makes it difficult for us to decide quickly, deliver quickly, and why is it so hard to change?

Do your research together with others and use as much humor as you can. Laugh about the “this is just how we do it” things you encounter. Laugh about the daily frustrations and try to put them into perspective. You may conclude that you all behave quite strangely or difficulty and that things could be a bit better and/or less serious.

What insight can you draw from this, and how could you translate it into a concrete improvement action?