Seeking success? Or avoiding failure?
A declaration of change often starts with someone senior painting the picture of success.
Often, they do it badly. “10% more widgets!” (In my pod interview with Dan Heath he is wonderfully acidic about how uninspiring c-suite numbers are as a vision.)
Sometimes they do it well, and there’s a resonant and compelling sense of what the future holds, and why we need to get there.
But as humans, we’re not really wired for bold success. We’re wired to minimize failure.
Blame our brains
Your brain has one overriding job, and that’s to keep you alive. The longer you live, the more chance there is of your DNA getting passed along.
So it’s learned that, on balance, staying safe and avoiding risk is the smart long-term bet.
That dark cave that tempted our ancestors some tens of thousands of years ago? The ones that avoided it were the ones who didn’t get eaten by the thing are also the ones who are our ancestors.
You’ll have your bias
In my experience, each of us has our own orientation of “towards reward” or “away from risk.” I’m a seek-rewards guy, my wife is an avoid-risk gal, for instance.
Do you know yours? The key players on your team? Your sponsors’? The CEO’s? The org culture’s?
Three conditions
One tool that might help to calm all nerves is to make explicit three different conditions of success.
From Lean comes the concept of Conditions of Satisfaction. These make explicit what “good enough” is. You know it, and they know it. They’re not just explicit, they’re typically measurable and limited in number.
I’m going to add two more.
Conditions of Glory.
What would be absolutely brilliant? What would be stunningly excellent? Do we know, specifically, what a truly glorious outcome would look like? And for whom? How do we unlock people’s ambition and excitement
Conditions of Catastrophe.
What would be disastrous? This might get into what Michael Abrashoff would call “above the waterline mistakes” and “below the waterline mistakes.” If the ship sinks, that’s probably a catastrophe. But does everyone know that?
There’s lots of general talk about success, but it’s helpful to remember that humans on the whole are more wired to avoid failure than they are to seek success.
Knowing how you, your team, your sponsor, and your organization are oriented will make clear what’s possible and worth striving for, and where you might choose to play it safe.
