In my first post, I discussed my thoughts about Google being a
successful organization due to its ability to lead the market in
innovation and being conscious of efforts or investments that are not
successful and having the courage to pivot to a different venture.
As we progressed through this course, it became clear to me that not
only my two previous points are what makes a high-performing
company, but so much more. The innovation bit and changing
direction when needed can roughly be interpreted as an
organization’s learning capabilities. I think we all knew deep down
that learning from past experiences and observations of the
environment around us makes us successful, but having that notion
validated was impactful. We have heard of many companies who
failed to learn from their experiences and were stuck in the same
way they did things; Kodak or Blackberry, for example, were good
companies during their height. Still, they also make good examples of
how an organization’s lack of learning capability can be the last nail in
the coffin.
In my software engineering career, I will soon become a team leader.
In my recent experience through my job and this course, I have
learned that we cannot let perfect be the enemy of the good; there is
a balance that happens between being able to start chipping away at
a problem with limited information vs. waiting to learn all the
information needed at the beginning and having to rush for a
solution towards the end. Having the ability to determine that
balance is what makes a high-performing team and organization. The
second most important thing that I am walking away with is the
practice of setting up time aside to let innovation happen. “Necessity
is the mother of all inventions” is an adage but still relevant to our
world. I want to encourage my team members to set time aside every
week away from company work and think about those problems they
currently face that do not have an easy solution and how to
overcome that. Lastly, allowing members of the organization to learn
any topics outside of their job function. Instigating this habit helps
tremendously with diversity in thought, which is where innovation
lives and thrives.
In conclusion, high-performing teams and organizations must learn
from their past experiences, from their surroundings by watching
competitors in the business environment, and from within
themselves by listening to each other’s diverse thoughts.
