A few weeks ago I came across a piece by Roger Martin on Reliability and Validity (my apologies as the link now eludes me).  The concept is part of Roger’s seminal book, “The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage“, and is a key part of keeping your business moving forward.

Generally speaking (read the book for the real goods – buy local!), leadership needs to “pull” towards Validity (focussed on creating desirable outcomes) because organizations naturally “pull” to Reliability (producing consistent results).  That’s especially important as businesses grow, because increasing complexity requires more standard processes, more predictability.  You’ll tend to hire people who thrive in that predictability – and protect it.  And people try to create more of what they like, pulling towards predictability.

I used the concept as part of a session with a team I am working with that can benefit from both improved processes (increasing Reliability) and increased risk tolerance (and thus potential Validity).

But the group (myself included) struggled with the terms (“I’m always reliable”, “these processes are valid”), and since then I’ve been seeking a better way to visualize the concept.

I hope Mr Martin will approve – I’ve landed on the words Possibility & Predictability:

•  Possibility – Creating New Value
•  Predictability – Protecting Existing Value

In the 2005 version of Roger Martin’s article (which I did find and is available as a pdf at Roger’s website), Roger talks about the importance of balance across the organization.  The business naturally pulls towards Predictability. Leadership needs to consciously pull towards Possibility, focussing on where the business can go, what it can do. Done well, this builds a resilient yet predictable organization that protects existing value while embracing the spirit of possibility that creates new value.

And as a bonus, being the champion of the possible inspires people to reach.