Luck by Design

If you are wondering what the image here is- it’s Velcro. One of the most important innovations of the last century and an accident that created a billion dollar business. A series of other serendipitous inventions include- Teflon by DuPont, TNT by Alfred Nobel, X-Rays by William Roentgen, Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, Phonograph by Thomas Edison, and who can forget Penicillin by Dr. Alexander Fleming. In fact some say that even the Internet and C Language were stoke of luck than proper planning.

Rightly so- good inventions are born out of necessity while great are born out of luck!

So here’s my proposal- If so many land-sliding inventions emerge from pure luck or accidents; why can’t we have these accidents Designed. Or what about LUCK BY DESIGN?

Further, while individuals can be attributed to having luck, can even organizations become lucky? Here I am not talking of chance events, am taking about a discipline towards introducing such instances in the life of an organization, artificially that the reaction results into something unexpected. And leadership has a role to play here.

Remember- There’s nothing called Solitary Genius when it comes to Innovation. Inventions might emerge out of a stroke of genius, but when it comes to realizing the commercial value, a System/ an Institution is needed.

So here’s my five point agenda on how to hone Luck at the workplace such that this serendipity results into great new insight and ideas.

• Attract Outliers: It is an imperative to judiciously move away from a comfort zone to that of discomfort and outliers help an organization do that. They are mis-fits (nothing wrong or bad about it); they don’t go by the rules; and often questions the norms. Important to attract such a talent and be tolerant towards them. Remember- you can only attract them, you can’t hire them!

• Budget Planned Experiments in everybody’s Job: I often look at people’s Goals and Objectives, and what strikes me is the absence of activities that stretch the envelop. Mostly these are repetitive tasks with defined goal and even well laid path. They achieve the obvious and hence get rewarded. Would be better to install some portion of time/ efforts towards carrying planned experiments, and remember no penalties of failing over here!

• Expose Employees to Outside of own Industry: Often employees’ mindset gets shaped/ limited by the norms of the own industry. It is good to know about the good practices from the industry but dangerous to not know about what happens outside of it. As there’s a much higher potential to learn from non-aligned industries, it’s important to have such planned exposures at all levels.

• Avenues for Loosely Structured Knowledge Sharing: The best of the knowledge is shared in loosely structured fashion, when people socialize. This may happen over lunch tables, tea breaks, bus ride or when people just are left alone to gossip. Remember- gossip is a healthy practice if done constructively. So create avenues for employees to engage in emotional talks where they are not driven by immediate business goals. Barcamps are great avenues for that matter.

• Create Artificial Sense of Urgency: Those who exercise remain healthy. Same applies to organizations. The leaders have to ensure the most of discomfort, better artificial, sets employees exercise their vital senses to solve tough problems, get out of comfort zones and set stretched targets. Remember- you exercise your muscles or you would never be able to use them.

So here’s the idea- Luck can be designed, as much as everything else in an organization. This calls for a new breed of managers. Are you ready!