Experience Can Be The Worst Teacher
by Deanna H. Berg, Ed.D.

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Yesterday's experience is no longer a relevant predictor of what will happen tomorrow. Our lessons from experience may not only prove irrelevant, but may also prevent us from perceiving the new ideas we will need to thrive in today's rapidly changing and global marketplace. The lessons we have learned are limiting our ability to imagine a future that is different from the present.

"Experience is the mother of convention." Some of the ways in which experience teaches lessons that limit us include:

- Past experiences anchor us in the past, particularly when we assume that because something has happened before, it will continue to happen in the same way. - We over-generalize from past negative experiences and learn to fear the unknown. - We don't talk about our mistakes or failures because we don't like to think of ourselves as less than perfect; or we may be unsure about the security of our employment. - We don't accept responsibility for our actions or their results. - We determine what is possible by what has happened in the past. - We assume that our past inability to change ourselves or our companies will continue.

Eight alternatives to becoming limited through experience:

1. ASSUME NOTHING. Question every current business practice. ("Do we need office buildings? Why can't everyone have the same title? Why can't our customers be part of our organization? Can't we involve our salespeople in the design of products and services? Can companies be both large and small, centralized and decentralized at the same time? If we blew up this company, how would we rebuild it?")

2. GIVE UP THE SEARCH FOR RIGHT ANSWERS. There could be many right answers -- learn to enjoy the truth of Oliver Wendell Holmes' statement, "All life is an experiment." Question conventional thinking and activities. Force yourself out of your comfort zone and accept Tom Peters' call to "joyous anarchy."

3. TRASH YOUR TABOOS. There are no undiscussables in a learning organizaton. It is estimated that 25-40 percent of all organizational activities add no value for customers. They are conducted because someone in the company has a vested interest in seeing them continue. Encourage people to be less polite and to speak up when they see valueless activities. Run your business for the convenience of the customer, not the employees.

4. DEVOTE TIME TO LEARNING. Eliminate forms, reports and meetings that don't add value for your customers. Use the extra time for personal development. Make learning part of everyone's job description. Companies that don't get rid of non-learners will lose their learners and, most likely, their customers.

5. REWARD FAILURE. Give people permission to fail and reward people who do so. People who don't make mistakes aren't trying anything new. Don't solve people's problems for them; give them opportunities to make some mistakes to learn from. The MWOTH ("my way or the highway") approach guarantees that people will not share diverse ideas.

6. DON'T DO MORE OF WHAT DOESN'T WORK. We can't fix things by trying harder to do more of things that didn't work in the past. Avoid the tendency to continue practices that aren't working because you have put so much time, money, energy into them. Persistence is not always a virtue. To find out what isn't working, offer rewards to your customers for their complaints. Find out what you can do to help your customers compete in their marketplace. Customers who feel like you are working for them won't be looking around for a new supplier.

7. DON'T PUT PEOPLE INTO SLOTS ON AN ORGANIZATIONAL CHART. They will live into the limits of those boxes and will find it difficult to collaborate with people in other boxes. Empower people to discover opportunities for learning and improvement that exist outside of their job descriptions.

8. REWARD CONTRIBUTION -- not position, longevity, or status. This will force people to keep learning and make it impossible to retire in place. Create a no-excuses culture; make sure everyone accepts total responsibility for serving their customers.

Copyright 1994 Deanna Berg