Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away!

Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away!

“Perfection” is often pilloried in today’s fast-moving, agile world. Being perfect seems the opposite of being modern or even fit for the future. The engineer striving for perfection belongs to yesterday; today, the cool person settles for sixty per cent and fails “fast, cheaply and often”. Who still dares to be perfect?

I see this critically, particularly in communication during change processes. Those who fail “fast, cheaply and often” here really do fail!

Here I agree with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and The Little Prince:

Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away!

Four questions help develop a perfect change story:

1. What are the three to five core messages we want to convey?
2. How, and through what means, can we best communicate them?
3. How can we move people emotionally?

And, once we have rehearsed it:

4. What can we leave out?

What do I repeatedly see instead in communication about change? Endless, exhausting PowerPoint battles and poorly prepared leaders who talk themselves hoarse and constantly repeat themselves. It quickly becomes clear that a successful—no, perfect!—start to change looks different. Or, to quote Dieter Lange once again: “You recognise winners at the start—and losers too!”