Successful organizational change initiatives require understanding the behaviors, beliefs, and systems in which you are working, much like an anthropologist studies cultures. ​ Instead of jumping to solutions or evaluating systems through a right-wrong lens, one should ask insightful questions to understand why current processes make sense from a behavioral perspective. ​ This approach helps avoid biases, broadens perspectives, and increases the likelihood of successful implementation. ​

Successful post-mortems require a problem-learning process before they get to problem-solving. To successfully problem-learn, we must recreate the system that enabled the undesirable outcome—all the bits and seemingly insignificant pieces. Then we can answer these two key questions of post-mortems. That should be easy, but it never is.

As an anti-broem author noted, “I’m not sure where the hell it came from. But recently on LinkedIn, I’ve noticed this phenomenon where entrepreneurs, growth-hackers, and digital marketers are posting poorly written self-help-like ‘prose’ littered with clichés and vague blanket statements.”

 A blogger called it “corporate essay-poetry” while another noted, “This is very third-grade-level writing style.” My favorite characterization is by Carine Rampelt: “It’s like making a speech and dropping the mic after very phrase.”

In only six months, the team moved from capturing ideas on Post-Its and flip-chart-covered walls to the transformation of a fleet of 33 newly branded 737-200s, a new set of customer service procedures, and innovative airport ground choreography to enable a 30-minute turnaround between flights. The resulting cost structure beat Southwest’s operating costs and also established a positive team culture that bubbled with pride for what everyone had accomplished.

Organizational efficiency initiatives have quickly jumped out of the 2025 starting gates, with many companies now heavily engaged in cost-cutting and reorganization. As you consider areas for improvement, I remind you of an easy opportunity to free up resources: Time lost attending worthless meetings.

Every meeting room should have an “Enter Only if You Know Your Purpose in This Meeting” sign hung outside it. So if no one is sitting in your conference room when you get ready to lead a discussion, Your would-be participants are indicating you’ve got some work to do.

As I often emphasize, words matter. And the simple word “why” can REALLY matter. Discover how this three-letter word can transform a well-intended post-project or safety review into a contentious debate. Curious to learn more about how to navigate this? Check out this week’s blog!