52 WEEKS: WEEK 45 - Experimentation

Focus Question: What does experimentation mean for you? Look like in your work?

Description
Experimentation is key for business leaders and teams today. Many times, the context is changing so quickly that we don’t have time to complete an entire roll-out before having to make a final decision. That can lead to a mindset of experimentation, where it is encouraged to try things out, see what works and what doesn’t.

In supporting experimentation in our team, we want to:
• Encourage and reward trial and error
• Create safety around not getting “things right”
• Provide team members with time and resources to experiment, beyond their everyday team responsibilities
• Facilitate an evaluation of projects or “Experiments” that are completed or are even at the midpoint
Questions we may ask at project reviews include:

Practically, incorporating more experimentation may look like:
• Putting shorter time windows on projects, with quicker checkpoints to see what is working, and what is not
• Moving projects out of design phase and into beta more quickly so that pilots can be rolled out and/or early adopters can take the program for a test drive
• Looking at testing a couple of different strategies at the same time, with the notion that they may not be as fully developed as they have been in the past. Early results may inform what gets further developed and/or followed
(Originally published as https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1597-teamwork-skills-in-complex-times-experimentation and https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1583-in-focus-experimentation)

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Activity
What are the experiments you want to undertake right now around your work? Where could more experimentation benefit you (and the team) with innovation or focus?
 
For more on this topic check out: Section 4 of PlanDoTrack for more on Experimentation.
Experimentation has also been one of the quarterly themes we’ve anchored into this year at the Remote Pathways podcast. Be sure to check out the Community Calls at the Remote Pathways Podcast.  You can find them at this YouTube Playlist - (Remote Pathways Podcast Community Call playlist)

All the best,
​Jennifer

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Jennifer Britton
Co-host of the Remote Pathways Podcast
Potentials Realized – Coaching, Training and Consulting Services for remote teams, leaders and professionals 
 
Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode, where we explore the people, places and processes of exceptional remote work. You can listen to the latest episode here, or on your favorite podcast player.