None of this is about food

Of course it doesn't. The fact that there's a menu implies that there are several options to choose from.

I guess that plenty of the time we pick the things that seem safe - either we've done them before or they are the expected thing to choose. Organisational culture and behaviours often drive the choices that people within it it make.

But what if you want something that isn't on the menu? What if your organisation needs to start making choices which are completely different from those that it's made in the past? What if the things you've picked are no longer good for you? What if they're actually killing you?

It's a massive challenge to get conversations going about things that should be on the new menu. To make others in the company buy into the new choices and what they provide. And to reject what they've had in the past. If you've always chosen the equivalent of organisational steak in the past, then why would you want to choose something different?

The bigger challenge though might be to try and do away with the menu altogether. It's a fixed device. And changing from one fixed device to another is hard. A constant diet of change management can be unsettling.

Better then to build the capability to build and create individual dishes as need and opportunity arises. To adapt them when it's appropriate. And to discard them altogether and make up something new when necessary.