Some organizations become a “self-licking ice cream cone.” This is a system that exists only to sustain itself. It will never achieve any meaningful outcomes. These entities justify their existence through bureaucratic means. They consume resources while providing little real value. But all is not lost. Understanding and applying agility and adaptability can create strategies to transform these organizations. Failure to do so leaves them fragile and vulnerable to competitive threat.
So what can we do to prevent this and thrive?
Emphasize Agility and Adaptability
Stress the importance of agility—responding quickly and effectively to changes. To break out of a "self-licking ice cream cone" cycle, an organization must:
• Embrace Change: Develop the ability to accept and embrace both external and internal changes. These are constants that will never go away. So harness them by building a culture that encourages innovation and flexibility.
• Decentralize Decision-Making: Empower everyone in the organization to make fast decisions. Fast decisions aligned with the mission reduce bureaucratic inertia. This creates a more proactive posture that encourages initiative. It also allows for more speed when responsive actions are required as circumstances unfold.
• Learn Continuously: Promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Regularly assess performance, learn from mistakes, and adapt processes accordingly. The simplest way to explain this is to accept this reality: If you are not learning, you are not adapting. If you are not adapting, you are dying.
Focusing on Value Creation
By choosing effectiveness over efficiency, you can create real value. People with stake in the organization, internally and externally, want only this. Create value rather then directing resources to defending the status quo. How?
• Harmonize with a Core Mission: Ensure all people and their activities align with the organization’s main goals. This focus will lead to achieving meaningful outcomes.
• Eliminate Waste: Identify and remove activities that do not add value or meet goals. Streamline operations to use resources in an effective manner.
• Engage Stakeholders: Actively involve customers, employees, and partners. Ensure the organization meets their needs and expectations by creating real value. Everyone should be better off for having worked together.
Challenging the Status Quo
Encourage questioning norms and disrupting the status quo. For an organization, this means:
• Debrief and Red Teaming: Encourage everyone to question processes and suggest improvements. A genuine feedback culture of questioning leads to innovative solutions.
• Implement Change: Be willing to implement significant changes, even if they disrupt. Implementing change helps an organization evolve and stay competitive. Keep it meaningful, never implementing change for the sake of change.
Do It Before Your Competitors Do
Stop building "self-licking ice cream cones." Emphasize agility, adaptability, continuous improvement. Focus on value creation and transform a “self-licking ice cream cone” into a purposeful and effective organization. Do it before an adaptive competitor does it for you.
