We are now at the point where we have an executive level of leadership and an expert level of execution. We have Governance to tie them together and we have simple rules to guide their actions.

The next step is sharpening the double edge sword – accountability and creativity.

No one will question the value of metrics. They provide a means of effectively measuring progress towards a goal. If you have someone that is good at identifying the elements that represent real progress, then you have someone with a real talent. What usually happens is a measure to some attainable objective which aligns with what the expert level worker believes is the right thing to do, regardless of the communicated direction.  Worthwhile metrics zero in on definitive actions and process advancement. But these metrics are looking for something within a boundary. Something expected to meet a theory or hypothesis. It is black and white. There is nothing bad about this.

 Now suppose you are at the grocery store. You walk to the sliding doors and they open and you feel the light breeze of the different pressure settings. You see the cash registers first and they are buzzing with action. Beep, beep, beep, do you have any coupons? You step to the right and see about 20 aisles of food. Do you need 20 aisles worth of food for survival? No, you probably don’t even need a complete one aisle. But you have choice. You have items nature never intended – hello hot pocket and fruit roll up. You have items that will be offered for this month and never see the light of day again. You have some items that will catch on. You have perishables and goods with distant expiration dates. But really what you have is calculated risk. You have the acceptance of mistakes. Why? Because if you didn’t try new approaches, the grocery store would still be one aisle.

The other side of metrics is deliberate risk taking and mistake making. Your experts should be encouraged to fail. And they will. But if their failings are creative, you can do two things: learn why they failed and maybe discover something completely unintended, barely imaginable, and uniquely profitable. You need to implement a process that allows for each of these to happen quickly. Once something sticks, you can develop goals for it and ship it over to the metrics guys to improve. These tasks usually take longer.

Besides creating a culture of allowing failures, you should build an environment of affiliate support. This means that your different business units are staking groups in other departments. This generates holistic viewpoints, collaboration, and a more rapid expansion of ideas – even ones that didn’t quite work in a particular situation.