Activity: Workscape Experimentation

Introduction

One way to learn and discover within your workscape is to conduct experiments. Experiments can be a potent way to learn, compared to doing a course or simply watching/reading about something.

Experiments are particularly different than other activities you might do. Their primary purpose is to learn – not achieve something. Generally, you can’t say you fail at an experiment; instead, you learn from the experiment – what doesn’t work and potentially insight about what to do differently or to abandon.

Useful experiments do have a starting point, but it is more of a possibility or a question – not a certainty. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be an experiment!

If you hold a cat by the tail, you learn things you cannot learn any other way.
~ Mark Twain

 

Essentials of an experiment

There are a few characteristics that help define and design an experiment. Here is a set of seven things with a brief explanation.

  • Question: Something for which you are uncertain, or unknowing, about
  • Intention(s): The aims that will constrain your experiment. Two aspects: a) Direction (i.e. not destination) you’re heading as a starting point; and b) Manner of how you want to be as you go.
  • Variables: The factors that could change or be changed in your experiment. See starting set of 6 broad variables for workscape experimentation at Workscape Variables below.
  • Agent/Subjects: The person(s) being affected by or exposed to the variables
  • Context: The background or situation in which the experiment takes place which has the power to influence the interpretation of any results/findings.
  • Approach: The steps you will take to run the experiment.
  • Timing: The period of time in which the experiment will be run.

The details for these aspects can be captured in the My Workscape Experiment canvas.

Workscape Variables

The set of six board variable for workscape experimentation with a brief explanation.

  • Industry/Context: The sector or societal environment where the work is done
  • Value Exchange: The value created for and contribute by self in doing the work
  • People: The people by whom to work is done; and who they serve
  • Place: The place and spaces where the work is done
  • Tool: The tool(s) used to do the work
  • Activity/Task: The tasks or activities that form the work

 

Experimental Mindset

Be brave and open to uncertainty. Experiments are not ‘business as usual’ – so don’t act and think as normal. Do experiments that challenge you or get you outside your comfort zone. Sometimes you need to take action to discover useful knowledge: Because it exists but is hidden from you; or because you need certain conditions to be right for the knowledge to emerge. You don’t get to sit in a proverbial arm-chair – you need to be actively and assertively involved in the discovery process.

With experimentation mistakes will occur, because you don’t know what you don’t know. To err is human, though you’ve likely been raised to avoid mistakes and be upset when they happen. With an experimental mindset, you can let this thinking go, and be open to the emergence of new knowledge and insight for self and for others. Embrace slips, trips, falls and doubts.

Sharing your findings is an important part of an experimental approach: Others can learn from what you learnt; or can try something different given what you learnt or revealed. Be inclined to share with others after you’re done with your experiment. Be transparent – you aren’t seeking to achieve or show-off success, so share a range of what you learnt, including the mistakes and what you discovered to be wrong.

 

Size of an experiment

How much of an experiment are you willing to do? Experiments can come in different sizes. Choose the size that’s right for you and the situation you are in – there can be boldness and great possibility in small things as well as big things. Here’s three different possibilities and how they are different.

EI: Macro EII: Meso EIII: Micro
Variables Many Few One
Risk High Low-Med None-Low
Resource Impact High Medium Low
Emotional Tensions Major Medium Minor
Example Making a change from being self-employed in one sector to being an employee in a different sector Doing a co-creation activity amongst professional peers outside your current organisation Reducing the amount of time spent on professional social media

 

LEGEND
Variables: The number factors that could change or be changed in your experiment
Risk: The possibility of harm, loss or damage
Resource Impact: The amount of draw-down on your resources (e.g. time, energy, attention, money, relationships)
Emotional Tensions: The extent of emotional experience that is triggered by the experiment

 

Method

Start by getting yourself into the Experimental Mindset:

  • Do something ritual-like to make the mental switch from normal every-day thinking. (Some examples: Read a prepared mantra out-loud; Take yourself to a creatively stimulating spot to design your experiment as the sun is rising on a new day; Put on clothing like you are going on a safari – something you wouldn’t normally wear.)
  • Read or listen to stories and examples of others doing experiments.

A. Design and Prepare an Experiment

  1. Decide what scope of experiment you are willing to do: Macro, Meso or Micro (see table above) and pick a primary topic.
  2. Get yourself a copy of the My Workscape Experiment Canvas and start to populate it.
  3. Form a question to refine your primary topic and to guide the experiment.
  4. Name your intentions for experimenting. Even though these might change.
  5. Choose the variables that will form scope of your experiment.
  6. Decide on a set of broad steps which is your experimental approach.
  7. Setup a means and place to capture information during the experiment (i.e. Notes).
  8. Establish your timing: Your start point, your end point and a couple of stop-and-review moments in between.

B. Run the Experiment

  1. Work through the steps in your approach.
  2. Observe what is going on. Capture impressions, thoughts and insights as you go.
  3. Capture images, work product and quotes as supplementary evidence for your findings. (And not just the good things

C. Learning from the Experiment

  1. Take yourself to a quiet place for calm reflection at your review points; and at the end point.
  2. Review your My Workscape Experiment Canvas.
  3. Ask yourself these questions in consideration of the variables you chose.
    • How might this particular context affect my interpretation of what happened?
    • What worked well? What didn’t work well?
    • What surprised me? What assumptions had I made, that have been challenged?
    • What triggered a sense of discomfort or other negative emotions? (i.e. Bumping up against my sense of ‘what’s right’)
    • What triggered positive emotions?
    • What would I do differently now that I have this knowledge?
    • What things could I add to my future? What things could I abandon in my future?
    • What questions are I left with, that are unanswered? (What’s another experiment I could do to tangle with these?)
  4. Capture your answers in an enduring form, that can be private to you.

Note: If you only get results that you thought you were going to get – then you may be falling prey to the cognitive heuristic of confirmation bias. Or maybe you weren’t really experimenting – that is pushing to boundaries to learn and discover new knowledge – and were just doing an activity that had a high degree of certainty about it.

D. Closing the Experiment

  1. Complete your end review.
  2. Gather all the supplementary evidence from your experiment and story; and your reviews. Store these alongside your Workscape Experiment Canvas in a place where they can be retrieved at a later date.
  3. Select content from your reviews and evidence to share with others, including some details about the shape of the experiment.
  4. Share learnings with others.

 

 

This content is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence so it can be freely shared with attribution to the creator (Questo); it cannot be used for commercial purposes; and it cannot be modified.