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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that if you want to introduce something new,

and you aren't completely confident in it yet, just call it an experiment. That way, no one will

expect perfection. You invite helpful feedback because, hey, it's an experiment.

And if the experiment is a major change in how people were doing things,

they might not feel as stressed or be as resentful,

as they might be, if it were presented, as a permanent change.

So I know of a wonderful cook who does what she calls beta tests.

Anytime she tries a new recipe, and she often does, she presents it as a beta test.

That is, she makes it clear that the recipe is a work in progress. She is not promising

that the dish will be delicious. but she is hopeful that it might

be good, and in the meantime, she is happy to share the dish and invite feedback, so she can keep

making it better. Framing something new as a beta test, an experiment, or a prototype,

can be helpful in lots of contexts. Basically,

any time you try something new and perhaps a little risky, you can think of it in this way.

A teacher might experiment with a talking stick for students to share airtime during discussions.

She could tell her students why she

thinks the talking stick may be helpful and then invite their feedback after they've used it for a few

discussions. A department leader might use a new team meeting agenda, presented as an experiment,

...