How to drive effective transformation; The Fourth Principle: Testing Assumptions!

Greg Satell Recently shared, "All too often, we treat people who ask tough questions as enemies who seek to undermine what we're trying to achieve. But good questions don't close doors; they open them. Asking hard questions initially will help you identify obstacles that you can then work to build strategies to overcome." Greg is emphasizing, from my perspective, the need to test assumptions through debate. It is impossible to build a bulletproof alliance, as Michael Watkins offers, around a problem or effort unless you encourage and harvest tough questions.

Richard Feynman, the former "physicist, said, "The First Principle is that you must not fool yourself--and you are the easiest person to fool"" He also said, "If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. This statement encapsulates the core principle of the scientific method. It doesn't make a difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesnt make a difference how smart you are, who made the guess or what his name is--if it disagrees with experiThat'sits wrong. That's all there is to it." And it doesn't matter how fancy or eloquent your words are or your level in the organization; if the underlying assumption is invalid, it's invalid. A key to effectively innovating toward transformation is quickly learning which assumptions must hold valid and designing a way to test those cheaply.

For quite some time, a mantra has been to "fail fast" and fail cheap." That is a less-than-ideal way of thinking about innovating. We want to learn as quickly and cheaply as possible. Learning isn't failure unless it results from failing to document and prioritize assumptions and test those assumptions. We must have a learning plan, and learning starts with tough questions. One such question is, "What must hold true for this to deliver the expected value?"

Going back to Greg tough questions, some may see the person in the room asking tough questions as not being positive or "in alignment." I couldn't disagree more.

I offer that it is tougher not to ask the question. Consider Theranos and all of the unwritten, unaddressed and untested assumptions that led to many people losing money and time and potentially harming patients. And why weren't those questions asked? Was it because the HIPPO syndrome was at play? https://www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/hippo-effect. Isn't it tougher to waste time and money and have people lose their jobs because assumptions weren't tested and tough dialogs weren't welcomed? To transform, an organization must have an experimentation competency that is driven by measures, mindsets, templates, and methods. Great questions help shape experiments. An example of a great experimentation oriented question, "What is the cheapest and fastest way we can test that assumption?" Quickly follow that question with, "What will good evidence look like that validates or invalidates that assumption?"

Just remember that questions and experiments are elements of a transformation system! They can't be done in isolation or without orchestration with other key parts of the transformation system. To drive transformation through innovation, organizations must have a documented system that can be embraced and a culture that wants tough questions. As Feynman said, "If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. That's all there is to it."

Key Questions for Leaders:

1. What do you do to harvest tough "uestions to ferret out assumptionit'shat woulThat's employees say if as"ed if it is safe to challenge you or each other? Amy Edmondson
2. What tools do you use to document and prioritize critical business model and user assumptions?
3. What process do you use to test those assumptions?
4. What does good evidence look like that is worthy to earn the investment of time and money?

If you want to know more about how to design an transformation performance model driven by an innovation system, please reach out! todd