3 Answers to Congealed Experience
Inexperience experiments. Congealed experience hinders progress.
Arrogance assumes it will win because it won in the past. Disaster awaits when business-as-usual meets new challenges.
Experience is destructive when it causes you to resist change.
Congealed Experience:
The voice of experience says, “We’ve always done it that way.”
Seasoned warriors told David to face Goliath using traditional strategies. They said use a sword, shield, and armor. But they knew it was suicide to stand toe-to-toe with a colossal adversary.
Unexpected results:
Past success gives the illusion of competence. Experienced soldiers ran from the giant, but they told David how to succeed.
Those who aren’t doing it think they know how to do it.
Established methods don’t deliver unexpected results, but an inexperienced warrior defeated a towering giant.
When past results are acceptable don’t change anything. But plan to fail when you rely on established methods to achieve unexpected results.
3 Answers To Congealed Experience:
- Repeat to yourself, “Success blinds us to new methods.”
- Invite outsiders into the conversation. Who thought shepherding mixed with warfare? The same people at the same table produce the same results.
- Test unexpected methods. Exponential success demands innovative methods. You get the same results when you do the same thing.
Soldiers laughed at David because they judged him through the lens of experience. They couldn’t imagine the power of an unexpected approach.
Tip: David was true to himself. He used a sling and stones because they made sense to him. Allow the people doing the job to figure out the best way to do the job.
How might leaders respond to the limiting side of experience in themselves? In others?
Still curious:
Saturday Sage: Experience Can Derail Your Life
How to Help Others Learn from Experience
“The Vagrant,” teaches people how to engage in structured self-reflection. I encourage you to get your copy today. The story is compelling and the exercises at the end set readers on a life-changing journey. Click here to purchase, The Vagrant, on Amazon.
Everything changes when we change the way we think about ourselves.
Excellent enlightened insight!
Thank you sir.
“Having the same people at the same table produce the same results.” However, this isn’t the case when those people bring openness, curiosity, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Start by thoroughly diagnosing the situation: What problem or opportunity are we facing? What has worked before? What new factors are at play? What resources are available? And which approach offers the greatest chance of success?”
Thank you for your insights, Paul. My favorite little nugget is, “What new factors are at play?”
“The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions.” — Ellen Glasgow (Pulitzer Prize winning author).
Some folks, alas, just want to stay in the rut because it is easier than forging a new path. And the longer you walk that rut, the deeper it becomes and the harder it is to get out. As a leader, you need to learn about other options — even if you don’t like them — or you will be just as stuck in that rut.
Thanks, Jennifer. Love the quote. I heard this version. A rut is a grave with the ends kicked out.
Your comment reminds me that sometimes trying something new – just for the sake of it – can be useful. Just don’t bet the farm on something you haven’t tested.
Leaders can guide situations, people, resources into situations that allow for the greatest success for team members to figure out the best way to do a job. While David ultimately beat Goliath, would he have been the best person for the leader to put up against Goliath if they had choice?
The answer is yes, David was the best person to put up against Goliath. But only in hindsight. In other words, the leader might have picked someone else (or several someone elses) and failed.