Inspire Action with Experiments

I love the freedom and adventure of the forest. One of my favorite meadows is only reachable by crossing several streams. On a recent trek to reach the meadow, I was faced with flooded streams that prevented my crossing. Ignoring the other casual travelers that warned me there was no way to cross, I decided to EXPERIMENT.

As I tried several different paths, my thoughts wandered to you, the entrepreneur. We are a unique breed of human. We don’t do what we’re told, refuse to be held by the masses or the bureaucracies, thrive on risk…and we love to experiment.

There is power to the word EXPERIMENT.  Experiments never fail, you always learn something. Try using these experimental approaches in your business in the weeks ahead. See if you get different results.

• Instead of trying to convince your people of a new way of doing business, ask them to commit to an experiment.
• When you are in a discussion that goes around and around, propose an experiment to try something vs. just talking about it.
• Respond to the the words “that will never work” with the phrase “would it help to experiment?”
• When in a deadlock, or when you hear the words “I don’t know,” ask, “what shall we experiment with first?”

Experimenting with different options implies action. Moving your company forward and getting what you want rarely happens when no action is taken. Use the word “experiment,” and observe how it moves your company forward.

My experiments in the meadow that day helped me to overcome what initially seemed an impasse. With the invitation to experiment, your business might also experience new breakthroughs. I hope the power of this simple shift in thinking inspires your team to take action and accomplish your goals.