Simply take the next best step

15 May Simply take the next best step

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In 1871 Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke said (and I’m quoting the modern version), “No plan can survive first contact with the enemy.” And while the planning stakes in organisations are rarely life and death, I think the sentiment holds true.

Yet people still develop elaborate plans to try and change an organisation’s culture. Even though everything beyond the first step so often fizzles. Of course staff are not the enemy, and culture is not a battlefield. Although it sure can seem that way sometimes. But when you have a quagmire of competing interests, maybe ditch the projected view and try something else …

In his new book called “What to Make of a Life”, Jim Collins suggests a different way to keep moving forward. And although he describes it as aiding self-knowledge, I think some of what he found can also apply to organisations. In particular, what he calls ‘simplex stepping’+.

Named for the ‘simplex algorithm’—a concept he learned in college from Professor George Dantzig. It’s a path to progress when too many possibilities cloud the ‘best’ choice.

The idea showed up in Collins’ research as,

“A repeating pattern of people iterating in a series of small steps when lost in the fog. They couldn’t get above the fog to see the entire terrain of possibilities and map the most direct path to the best destination. They essentially had to simplex step their way through…”

Collins continues, “Imagine you’re trying to find your way to a destination, but you don’t know what that destination is.” Which sounds a lot like a description of culture change. Not only is there no there, you can’t know where there is. And even if you think you do, there will morph before you reach it.

Which is why I love the notion of simplex stepping for your culture. Look around at what you can see. Then, as Collins describes, “take what looks like the next best step … Then look around from the vantage point of your new location, and ask, ‘Ok standing here, what looks like the next best step?’”

Repeat. Next best step. Repeat. Next best step. Eventually, there will feel clearer. Or at worst, you won’t have sunk too much time or money into something that isn’t working.

Culture constantly shifts in response. When people join and leave. When external stress and uncertainty swamp what’s happening. When new technology upends how people work and what they expect.

The mix of behaviour, process and policy, alongside basic cause and effect, means changing one thing will always change more than the thing. Making ‘the next best step’ a prudent choice.

You could even have a rough plan in your pocket with a placeholder for what comes after that step you’re taking. Which may be the best move. Or not. Preparing for what you may encounter is sensible. But deciding what you will find is hubris. The pause to consider what’s needed next provides a chance to reflect and reset as you go.

Stop trying to plan your culture. Simply take it one next best step at a time.

Thanks for reading.