New ideas in organizations are like new habits for you and me.
Think about deciding to wake up 20 minutes earlier, or trying to put your phone away after 9pm. At first, your whole being resists. It feels pointless, annoying, uncomfortable. Your brain keeps whispering, “Why are we doing this again?”
It’s the same with organizational ideas.
They’re doubted and resisted at the beginning because they demand trust before results arrive. Like a new sleep routine, they need time, patience, and belief from the people responsible for bringing them to life.
Ideas, habits, they also need proper support systems, proper scaffolding to mature and scale.
Even the most fruitful seed will die in dry soil, and even the most brilliant idea will collapse if it’s dropped back into old, comfortable routines, outdated systems and processes. Your phone magically finds its way back into your hand unless you build a new environment that protects your intention.
And new ideas need to be challenged on schedule.
Just like you’d ask yourself, “Is my evening routine still working for me?” - organizations need to revisit their new ideas and redesign them when they start blocking something better trying to grow 🌱
Alex Osterwalder, one of the world’s top strategic thinkers, who I interviewed for my Change Wired podcast, sees this pattern in companies of every size. I’ve seen it in 18 years of helping clients build habits that last and transform their lives.
HABIT BUILDING STAGE 1: Mindset shift.
Trust the process long enough for it to work.
It’ll feel weird, foreign, and even like you’re making things worse at the beginning. That’s normal. This is where coaching, mentorship, and "idea champions" help your ideas get grounded.
HABIT BUILDING STAGE 2: Systems.
Create environments that make the new habit the easiest option.
Put the phone in the kitchen. Pick clothes for the gym the night before. Build scaffolding for your idea sprouts to grow into magnificent trees.
HABIT BUILDING STAGE 3: Evaluate on purpose.
Check in sometimes.
Is this still serving you? Still relevant? Still helping you build the future you want? Or is it time to iterate? To innovate?
Whether it’s habits in your life or ideas in your organization, one thing unites them: if they fight human psychology, they fail. If they work with it, they flourish.
Over to you, dear reader, what stage are you in? Are you helping new ideas get accepted? Building systems around them? Or figuring out whether they still serve your future?
