When the stakes are high, it can be difficult for leaders to break from what they know works, even if it means missing opportunities to evolve and improve. This fear of failure is a barrier to change, eventually causing business to stagnate. To avoid this, leaders should make sure they regularly ask themselves, "Why do we do it this way?" according to the Harvard Business Review.
Questioning the strategies and methods an organization employs — however entrenched they are — is imperative for keeping up with ever-changing market forces and demands. But it is not always easy to pause and think critically about things that have gone unquestioned for so long.
Here are three tips to create a culture of questioning, according to Harvard Business Review.
1. Increase the pool of perspectives by creating diverse teams. Successful leadership is determined not by the CEO alone, but by the entire leadership team. Deliberately creating a diverse leadership team, including people from different backgrounds and with different skill sets, will lend new perspectives and create space for questioning and creativity.
2. Keep your curiosity unchecked. Even after a problem is solved, leaders should constantly keep an open mind to new ideas and seek input from those around them. Additionally, by always seeking new connections with those within your industry or beyond, the possibility for learning is endless.
3. Be open to starting from scratch. When questioning an existing strategy, sometimes the answer lies in throwing it out altogether. What may have helped the organization thrive 15 years ago could be utterly obsolete today. Although starting over may seem riskier than prolonging a dried out strategy, doing so creates space for new, creative ideas to flourish.