Not every "special project" deserves to be delivered. Carl B. Watson, Ph.D. and Megan Alexa Watson break down how leaders can tell which emergent problems are actually worth solving, run real experiments instead of disguised validation exercises, and reward teams even when the right call is to stop.
In this episode, Carl B. Watson, Ph.D. and Megan Alexa Watson discuss:
- The "interesting, but not important" trap: special projects that succeed or fail without ever mattering because no one defined whether the underlying problem was worth solving in the first place
- Practical ways to gauge importance of emergent work, from "cage match" trade-off questions to sorting work into must-do, strategically central, and peripheral priority buckets
- Design's concept of "problem finding", the idea that deciding which problems are important enough to solve is an increasingly important core leadership task as emergent problems proliferate
- How organizational culture can encourage, or suppress, employees’ judgment and adaptability
- Why organizations over-reward launches and deliverables while under-rewarding valuable experiments that don't produce a win, and how that discourages the risk-taking emergent problems require
- Why squading is not a substitute for prioritization or for under-resourcing a team, and how to tell whether a problem needs a cross-functional squad or should stay with existing subject-matter experts
Key quote: “Part of the problem in organizations is experiments are set up to only succeed, which means you limit dramatically the possible information that you can get out of an experiment. It's not a true experiment. It's a validation exercise. And so those problems become really, really small and really, really, uninteresting. You squeeze all the usefulness and the value out of the project so that you can ensure its success, and that is actually, that's tragic if the problem is really important.”
About the show:
The Watson standard is a podcast for leaders who want to change their organizations without losing sight of people, purpose, or principles along the way.
Explore the human and organizational side of change: how leaders develop, how organizations evolve, and how to stay grounded when the work gets complicated.
She helps people change. He helps systems change. Together, we’re helping to change work for the better.
About the hosts:
Carl Watson, Ph.D., is the founding principal of Madrona Strategy Works, where he advises leaders on enterprise strategy, organizational design, culture, and leadership-team effectiveness. His research explores how organizations adapt and thrive amid uncertainty and change.
Megan Alexa Watson is a leadership development and talent management executive with deep experience helping leaders navigate complex organizational challenges. She is currently focused on stewarding senior leaders through the individual change required to drive strategic and AI transformation at scale and speed.
Check out all episodes at https://www.thewatsonstandard.com
Follow the show at LinkedIn: https://twspod.com/lnkin
