It is not surprising that companies in all industries feel increasingly uncertain today.
Digitization, globalization, Brexit & Co. create unmistakable question marks for large and small businesses alike. For these companies, however, the rule is the same: adapt or die. When profound change knocks on the door, often only one thing helps: shed the backpack of the past.
Prepared for everything?
Because I am convinced: The successful equipment of the past is now, in the face of uncertain future challenges, a burden in the backpacks of most companies. This reminds me of my first ascent of the Direct North Face of the Große Zinne.
My climbing partner and I were already very good climbers at the time, but the Direct on the Große Zinne was a new level of difficulty for us. Accordingly, we tried to plan in detail - and packed everything from reserve equipment to bivouac gear in our backpack. Following the motto: More is better. When we reached the first key passage, we were already two hours behind schedule, completely exhausted, and faced a difficult decision: continue - into a wall from which a simple descent was no longer possible - or give up and turn back.
Just before making the final decision to give up, I leaned back and looked at the path ahead of us once more. Suddenly it became clear to me: Our problem was not the difficulty of the climbing. The problem was our backpack!
My partner and I only took what was essential for success and then discarded the backpack. This allowed us to easily make up for the lost time in the upper - actually more difficult - part of the wall.
Companies with excess baggage - without realizing it
Just as we tried at the Große Zinne to confront all uncertainties with more equipment, many companies equip themselves for the new challenges with even more of the old tools: linear planning, management, and control. And that simply does not work today.
It is time for companies to examine their backpacks for hindering baggage and selectively clear it out - especially in three categories:
- Routines and Structures
Inflexible business models, immutable hierarchies, work in silos, rigidly regulated, linear processes ... It is important to take a close look: What of this is still useful today and what is more likely to hinder future success?
- Core Beliefs and Mental Models
Behind most routines and structures are core beliefs and mental models that act as prompters on thinking: "We have to do it this way. We shouldn't change that." Very often unnoticed - and therefore all the more powerful - they ensure that new ideas quickly fall back into old thinking patterns. And then, for example, necessary comprehensive digitization approaches turn back into mere "electrification initiatives" ("I think we should also make an app ...")
- Fears
The often heaviest burden in the backpacks of many companies and executives: the fear of losing control, the discomfort of venturing into unknown territory and engaging in an open-ended process together with their people.
Seek Disruptive Experiences!
How can one recognize the baggage and then muster the courage to free oneself from it? Reflection is certainly important, but there is always the danger that truly new insights will be thwarted at the outset by the omnipresent old way of thinking. Also, through the mental path alone, the necessary emotional involvement to truly change something rarely arises. Therefore, to all companies that seriously want to shed the baggage of yesterday, I clearly advise: Combine reflection with disruptive experiences! This means: Organize observations, encounters, and concrete experiences for yourself and your people that have the potential to shake the foundations of old beliefs - and then reflect on them together. I promise you: this makes a difference that makes a difference!
Article by Rainer Petek. He is one of the Top100 speakers. Find his profile here!
