I am guessing you are not a big fan of household chores like dusting, scrubbing the bathroom, or doing the laundry. Well, I am right there with you except for vacuuming. Here is the thing, I have a Dyson vacuum and it is seriously the best damn vacuum on the planet, bar none. It actually makes doing household chores fun (well, at least vacuuming).
If the Dyson vacuum is this good, you would imagine that it took some time and energy to develop, right? Sure, but how many prototypes do you think Mr. Dyson built before finally perfecting something that many of us thought was working OK to begin with?
10 prototypes? 50? 500? Nope, would you believe it took him 5,127 prototypes and fifteen years to produce a vacuum cleaner that would challenge and change a stagnant industry. So what does a vacuum cleaner have to do with the Future of HR?
As it turns out plenty. HR pros could learn a lot from James Dyson. He believes that innovation comes from embracing and paying attention to your flops, unexpected mistakes, and most importantly your failures. He was persistent even in the face of daunting odds. No one believed that the world needed a new vacuum cleaner – most people thought the old ones worked just fine. But, fine didn’t cut it for Dyson. He was not satisfied with the status quo and how vacuum cleaners of old worked. He believed there had to be a better way, so he not only reinvented a better way, he fought for it.
If James Dyson can do that for a vacuum, what is stopping us from reinventing HR? So, what are the key learnings here:
1) Look for unexpected outcomes- In business, we usually don’t like surprises. As professionals, we are paid to think things through, to have a plan, and execute to that plan. Unfortunately, this myopic focus on ”our plan” and on what was supposed to have happened can actually blind us to seeing the bigger opportunities. I am guessing that ”Lunch with the CEO” got started after an observant HR pro noticed the big impact that a CEO had when she just happened to pass by and have an informal conversation with a group of employees having lunch. If the HR pro had stayed focused on only “formal” meeting opportunities they would have missed this effective method of connecting leadership with the front-lines.
2) Prototype more, polish less – A mediocre idea that is executed is much better than an great idea that never gets off the PowerPoint slide. John Henry Newman once said, “A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.” If you want to make an impact you have to stick your neck out, take a chance, and be prepared to have some failures for the world to see. So, how do you prototype more, polish less, and still get to keep your reputation as a business-minded HR pro. The answer is simple and it is one word that you should not forget…”Pilot.” Positioning a project as a “Pilot” is one of the most smartest things you can do to give you and your team the time you need to work out the kinks and if you are lucky you will have the leeway to test out your big idea 5,127 times, just like Dyson.
3) Success doesn’t come overnight- Everyone would like to be an overnight success, but the reality is there is no such thing. Sorry, success doesn’t come that easy. What Dyson teaches us is that success is about persistence, plugging away, making a tweak there and a tweak here. Success is about staying laser-focused, believing in your vision, and realizing that sometimes being an overnight success can take fifteen years. All good things to keep in mind if we are to successfully reinvent HR.
Below is the video that inspired this post – How Dyson and his team failed their way into rethinking the bathroom Hand Dryer.
Photo Credit: Jeff The Trojan