Business Models Inc.

When do you get out of your comfort zone?

October 24, 2011 | Erik van der Pluijm

When doing Business Model Innovation sessions with clients, we try to push them on a creative journey, away from what they already know and what they always did. This journey involves planning and preparation to get everybody on board and with a clear idea of the destination. We set off with a clear idea of the new horizons we will explore. But I often see teams grow slightly uncomfortable after being on this creative journey for a little while, when we have reached the boundaries of the known world: suddenly, the teammembers find themselves beyond the safe boundaries of their comfort zone.

Don’t work your way back to safety!

A clear sign of such discomfort shows when the team start to actively ‘work’ their way back towards the ‘known world’: focusing on tasklists, discussions on familiar aspects of the situation, other activities that involve a lot of time. These are the things they are used to doing, and they are probably good at it, so it is easy to mistake the activity and focus that appears on the surface as a sign of progress!

What good explorers do

Being outside of your comfort zone can be difficult. It makes anyone feel insecure, confused. Great innovators and designers have found ways to deal with these feelings as part of their creative process. They know that to make true progress they need to embrace being outside of their comfort zone. They need to endure the discomfort at least for a little while – long enough to take a good look around. Like good explorers, they are prepared for what’s out there.

What’s in it for me?

How can innovative teams learn from this? Make sure to acknowledge the feeling of discomfort when leaving your comfort zone. Not everyone in your team may experience it in the same way, or at the same moment, so create a friendly athmosphere where you make it clear that the feeling is part of the process. You are all in it together. Don’t judge or evaluate too much, but explore, combine, see what it is that you find. And set a fixed duration before you come back to the ‘normal’ – then you can safely organize, evaluate and judge the ideas you brought back home.

Teams that have found ways to share and deal with the uncertain parts of the process instead of running back to safety are the ones that are more innovative!