What have you been experimenting with and learning from it, Director at Kaleva Media, Heidi Kananen?
Experimentation and learning! Sounds easy, but oh boy, it can be challenging!
When talking about experimentation, it’s often about quick tests. Something that can be tested over a day or a few weeks. Often, these experiments don’t involve core business functions, and testing in such cases is often fun and inspiring.
But in today’s fast-paced business, I believe a mindset of experimentation is also required in critical business functions. The business environment in any industry changes rapidly, and it’s often difficult to identify which business models and processes are becoming outdated and no longer align with goals. It requires a balancing act to be patient and systematic, and courageous to identify and admit faulty reforms. Even if a reform seems successful in tests or with a test group, it may still prove unsuccessful in practice. When is the right time to acknowledge that the solution didn’t work? Sometimes a week is a long time, and sometimes even a year is fast-paced action.
Can experimentation be talked about in the context of incentive models? Perhaps I would be cautious about testing short-term, overly risky solutions in such a critical operation. But I think a culture of experimentation can be learned in such operations as well. A few years ago, we renewed our sales incentive model to better align with the changing sales environment and to support our current sales strategy, encouraging sales to operate according to new business models. Because the model changed significantly from the previous one, it required adaptation from both sales management and salespeople. Our intention was sincere and good; the incentive would reward both actions and results. People welcomed the model with an open mind.
After a few months, the model began to generate discussions. However, we decided to observe for a few more months to see how the model would perform. Can management change such a significant model in too short a time, even if the challenges are recognized? Would management appear to be listening to the staff or as capricious, not truly understanding the challenges at the customer interface?
Despite our expectations, the model did not guide us towards a new operational model as hoped; instead, it even partly created inefficiency in sales. The model was also very labour-intensive and time-consuming for sales management, as the required data had to be collected from various sources. We ended up renewing the model a year later. Was a year a quick or slow reaction? In retrospect, I think our entire sales organization learned a lot from this. Our operations changed significantly in the desired direction, and we had many discussions about both our strategic goals and operational activities throughout the organization. But the most important lesson for me personally was a somewhat old wisdom. Lead actions, not numbers. Nowadays, our model is very simple, where sales figures determine success. But people are led by goals and by coaching them on those goals. Our trust in each other has grown.
A culture of experimentation creates an atmosphere in a community that can be relied upon even in difficult situations. It allows the recognition of erroneous decisions in all functions and roles. Often, the most challenging part is identifying things that require change quickly enough. In an open, experimental, and mistake-tolerant organization, such situations are easier to handle. Experiments are not just processes; they also create culture.
Thank you Heidi for sharing these excellent learnings!
Small experiments and inspiration 