Digital Transformation: Experiment and Fail Fast

00:06 Another company motto is "Experiment and fail fast." We've written business plans in the past because — and I'll say it plainly — we believed we could foretell the future.

00:21 That is not something we can accomplish.

00:23 A business plan may be an excellent guide, and having one is usually a good idea.

00:28 A business plan, on the other hand, is never completely accurate.

00:33 Eighty per cent of commercial ideas fail.

00:36 Innovation is challenging, and the only way to approach it is to experiment, try it out, and see what works and what doesn't — especially in a world where knowledge is rapidly obsolete and so many things change.

00:52 Let's go over the instances again, this time at the organizational level.

00:58 We have a system in place that allows everyone in the firm to explore and submit innovative ideas.

01:07 It's known as the "Digital Challenge".

01:09 This is how it works: I submit a concept in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

01:15 That is something I do in collaboration with a cross-functional team.

01:19 That means that if I am alone or with a coworker, I will be unable to participate in this digital challenge.

01:27 I usually need colleagues from different departments, such as controlling or supply chain, to keep things interesting.

01:34 I submit the concept.

01:36 I pitch it to a jury made up of workers from our company as well as outsiders such as someone from Facebook or Google.

01:46 And if I win the pitch, I'll receive 100,000 US Dollar to put the plan into action.

01:52 What about another example? It goes back a long way in our company's history.

02:01 We are 150 years old, and we have known what we were doing for a long time.

02:07 We were, and continue to be, experts in our industry.

02:13 But, especially with digital service improvements or new business models, we are increasingly having to admit to ourselves that we don't know everything and that we need actual help, and we are beginning to ask for it.

02:28 We are currently collaborating with a Dutch company.

02:33 It's a 13-week program that meets every Monday and Tuesday to teach us how to function like a startup.

02:42 I have so many thoughts to share with you about this.

02:47 I want to give you an example, but I'm no computer or programming expert.

02:55 We were able to program a landing page in three hours because the technologies available now are so basic.

03:02 If I wanted to do the same thing within our company, it would take at least three months, if not six. And I believe what is crucial here is to grasp it and bring it back to our company in order to properly consider, Okay, when is it really worth it to have this start-up culture and this way of working? And when do I call on the resources of a corporation? We want to restore that.

03:28 I'm not sure how yet.

03:33 Keep an eye out.

03:34 We saw before in "Making People Awesome" how crucial it is to obtain knowledge from other sources. We are progressively collaborating with universities.

03:45 That is, we go there, and we discuss a topic like, "How can I reduce food waste?" We introduce the topic, and the students then brainstorm fresh ideas, which they are awarded for. And we get so many wonderful ideas that we would never have thought of on our own. All of this occurs at the organizational level.

04:07 Let us now take a brief look at the team level.

04:10 I presented two examples for this: one that I was permitted to do in my team, and one that I simply did. We termed it "Courage Week," and each day, everyone should do something to push themselves outside of their comfort zone – obviously, only on a professional level.

04:27 It was never about going bungee jumping in your spare time, but always in a professional setting. As an illustration of bravery, consider this: A coworker calls and, as usual, she irritates me greatly.

04:40 If I did it like I do every day or every week, I'd hang up, get upset, and that'd be the end of it. I do things differently during Courage Week.

04:49 I attempt to approach this coworker and provide comments.

04:55 Naturally, during Courage Week, as was the case with us, someone may come in and request a wage rise. You may be asked unwelcome or unexpected questions.

05:06 They do, however, help us to think about it again and shift our perspective.

05:15 The second example I'd want to provide is making room for these experiments.

05:21 We did, and I got the information from Google.

05:24 Every employee selects a goal and has time to achieve it.

05:30 What I've discovered is that saying it is easier than doing it since it requires letting go, which is not always simple.

05:44 And when an employee suggested doing exercise classes with the entire staff because we sit at computers all day, I just thought, Okay, fantastic idea, do that, is there more to come, or is that the target suggestion? That was it. That was the recommendation.

06:04 That was difficult for me to accept.

06:07 But that was only an experiment.

06:09 The experiment is still in progress.

06:11 That was a nice thing to happen.

06:15 The workout sessions are genuinely working, and she is driven and doing precisely what she is meant to do, if not a little bit extra.

06:23 It is thus worthwhile to overcome your reservations and let go.

06:29 What specific steps can you take right now? One thing, I believe, is to reward and actively promote this culture of experimenting. You could, for example, assign yourself a key figure: X experiments that I conducted in a year, or X experiments that I permitted my staff to conduct.

06:46 And, most importantly, what have I learned from this? What blunders have I made? And what will I bring with me next year? A second example would be to develop a kind of culture book in which not just the experiments, but also other lessons and ways in which your team or you have evolved, are documented. And our strategy is highly practical.

07:12 That means we're just using regular sheets of paper or Post-its.

07:15 Then everything is placed in a box.

07:18 It's collected throughout the year, and at the end of the year, we put it all together into a small book so we can read about our adventure.

07:28 It's quite thrilling to see, Okay, how did I think, act, and write a year ago, and how do I think, act, and write today? That just goes to show how you can still make progress with small things.