Isn’t it so enjoyable when you instantly see the results from your effort? Let’s think about that concept for a minute and go back in time through major points in our life. Remember at a young age eating all of your broccoli, peas, or carrots at dinner so you could have some of that dessert as a reward? Eating your veggies meant gratification shortly thereafter.
Or how about when you passed your written driver’s permit test and saw the results instantly after? Hopefully, you passed on the first try! How exciting, and instantly gratifying was that? It meant one step closer to independence! Last one… how about hearing your favorite song on the radio and now being able to Google it to instantly listen again? Do you see our point? The list can go on and on as our society finds itself running into more of these instant opportunities daily.
However, results from some sort of culture effort are rarely that fast, and sometimes result from efforts are not always directly correlated. This proves an interesting conundrum. If results from effort in some cases not directly correlated (i.e. could result from randomness, luck, or an uncontrollable event like COVID19), the message of, “Can Doing Small Things Make A Big Difference?” could go on deaf ears. Therefore, it is so important that the culture of the entity (team, organization, community) needs to consistently remind and operate by this motto because results are not going to be instant. So, we ask, can doing small things make a big difference? You bet!
Let us provide you a few examples to think about. Three examples are positive regarding how a bunch of small positive successes can impact total outcome. The other example covers the opposite where over time, a high number of small failures led to the catastrophic crumbling of an asset.
First, the positive ones. There is a saying in football that every inch counts when driving for yardage. Have you heard that one? For example, a running back, taking an extra step or stride on that one particular play may have an outcome at the end of the game. Now, it may not be directly correlated, but certainly where there is a bunch of those plays, every extra effort taken by every single player, that in summation can have a big-time effect on gameplay; and ultimately the performance of that team. There exists some data compiled in 2020 that suggests an increase probability of a win by “going for it” on 4th down and inches.
On Sunday, October 11, 2020, the Seattle Seahawks used two fourth-down conversions after stopping Minnesota on fourth-and-1 to beat the Vikings 27-26. As reported by the Associated Press, “the numbers pointed in favor of the Vikings’ decision to bypass a short field goal that would have put them up by eight points in favor of trying to convert and run out the clock.”. According to EdjSports, the decision to go for it twice on 4th down and inches increased Minnesota’s chances of winning by 2.1 percentage points. It was a risk the team decided to take that could have backfired, however those small plays of inches influenced winning the entire game!
Here is another example about children improving in math over the course of the school year. “Improving” is measured by test results, and many other methods depending on the school, system, and geographic location. There is a common theme among many schools around the country according to the literature provided by the U.S. Department of Education. That common theme of children improving at the end of the year is “daily math problem solving”. Take for example, Steenrod Elementary School in West Virginia where they use “daily math drills” to help with bring home the concepts of math communication and use of algorithms.
Another example is Granville Middle School in Granville, Ohio where they created the “Math Counts” program which, “has become so popular that it has almost turned into a club, participates in daily morning math help sessions”. Notice the theme of daily / “small”.
Finally, let’s look at Barton Elementary School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where they use, “daily problem-solving questions to address mathematical thinking for all purposes”. Like any skill, becoming proficient is not going happen overnight. Small, daily sessions where the child has opportunity to grasp certain concepts of whatever math their working (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and basic math) is where the magic happens. Over the course of one entire year, you are looking at 180 days small opportunities of multiple training sessions and repetitions to make a big overall difference! This is not counting Summertime sessions if kids pursue that!
Now for a negative example driving home this same point. On March 12, 2004 at 12:24PM in Lamar County Mississippi a privately owned, 2000 ft long, 8 ft high, 11,000 acre dam, called the Big Bay Dam suffered a catastrophic breach. The breach caused total destruction of 48 homes, 1 bridge, while damaging 53 homes, 2 churches, 3 businesses, and 1 fire station. Luckily, there were no fatalities.
An after-action report / study in February 2015 was conducted by Alvi Associates a Maryland based civil engineering firm that reviewed what factors led to the dam breaching in the way that it did. Not only did the report cover physical, human, and other factors, but also covered the common factors why failures like this unfold. Here are the four factors identified in their study:
- Interaction of contributing factors over time
- Series of steps, often small
- Long time span, usually years or decades
- Eventually, contributing factors ‘line up’ and become jointly sufficient to manifest failure
Notice the theme of small negative occurrences/iterations over a period of time having a big impact. “Big impact” is inherent in their report for the fact that a dam failed leading to the major problem. This is another example supporting the concept of small things making a big difference!
If one looks around a bit, these examples of small things making a big difference are plentiful. Examples are in fact so plentiful that this concept is almost considered a universal truth. Here is the message that CreatorOfCulture.com wants to drive home to the reader. Cultures that live and breathe this approach and philosophy that small things make a big difference tend to perform better over the long term. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, results are not instant and there are conundrums to consider as well. Therefore, the method of operating every day believing that the small things do count is how to overcome those obstacles.
One last point to consider. Imagine multiplying this philosophy by two, three, four, or all people on a particular task? Can see of how much positive impact this will have? This concept is so interesting, and it goes much deeper as well. Therefore, CreatorOfCulture.com pledges to unpack this concept even more on future posts. Stay tuned!