#TwiceAsFast: How to implement a learning based culture?

There is one quote, which is not just valid when it comes to our personal lives; it also plays a key role in our day-to-day organizational context: “If you don’t know your harbor, you can’t set the sails.”

As I said in my previous article, I am convinced that our goal of becoming “#TwiceAsFast by 2020”, the how we do things in IT, helps us to create the right technical as well as methodical foundation. And together with our strategy “Data is the new Oil”, the what we do in IT, we will pave the way towards our north star CASE - the why we do things in IT. With our five Joint Priorities we are already well underway to achieve our goal #TwiceAsFast.

Now combining our Priorities with specific metrics under the headline "#TwiceAsFast: Measure.Learn.Do.", will help us stay on track and adjust directions if needed. Recently, we therefore invited our IT Senior Management Team to embrace measuring and to spread a key message: we have to use our KPIs not to report but to foster fast learning. This is what I learned from applying KPIs myself as well as from discussions with colleagues and exchange with successful start-ups and big digital corporates.

Moreover, continuous learning is also one of our eight Leadership 2020 principles. It helps us questioning the status quo and redefining our processes. However, let us get a little more into detail. How to implement this learning based culture? Here is what I am convinced of:

Spark discussions based on KPIs.

I am convinced that KPIs will only support us improve, if we really use them in our everyday work at every level. Since target values may vary greatly depending on the department's tasks and the current project situation, every team should set its individual target values at the beginning of every quarter. Discussion will help us to find ambitious but realistic goals.

Within team meetings, the actual values can be regularly reviewed within our KPI tool #TAF Measures. Applying this approach, every team can develop own actions to reach their target value and thus to contribute towards our common goal. Another significant impact I see is that this transparency and openness will encourage exchanging knowledge.

Within our monthly management meeting, we will do the same: set goals based on the goals at departmental and unit level, discuss them, track progress, learn, derive actions, achieve. And repeat.

Start doing it.

We have had intense conversations about whether we are measuring the right KPIs. These discussions are crucial – since they allow us to think about the why we are measuring what we are measuring. And many of our colleagues will question the KPIs – and rightly so. It will be a process. We are starting with a first set KPIs and will continuously develop them with the experience gained and progress made.

Doing that, it has to be our goal to not just enhance the KPI value but too strengthen the idea behind it: Fast learning and not reporting.