I was sitting in Yom Kippor services this week and flipped to the front of the prayer book to some texts
for reflections. There I read an interesting quote on repentance:
“How is one proved a repentant sinner? Rav Judah said ‘If the object which caused the original transgression comes before the repentant sinner on two occasions and the sinner keeps away from it.’”
–Prayerbook for the Days of Awe, The Reconstructionist Press, 1999
After thinking about the meaning of this quote in relation to myself, I started contemplating this idea as it relates to organizations. I believe this passage mentions that on two occasions you must keep away from the object to infer that the change is the result of a conscious realization of the prior mistake verses an unconscious change due to luck which would not show any improvement. Additionally, in order to rationally select a different decision you must first be aware that the previous decision or action was not the best option.
The first expectation seems logical. If an organization is aware that their past action was not the most effective they should change something the next time or keep away from it. Organizations are trying to do the most with their limited resources so this concept makes sense. However, the larger challenge is knowing the impact of the prior decision.
How many times have organizations we know faced a similar decision? How many times has an organization done something simply because it has been done that way in the past? Do they have a process in place to learn from decisions and consistently improve and build better more effective operations? Are they able to draw conclusions from the past experiences?
The quote shows us that repentance is not just about feeling badly or apologizing. It is about recognizing mistakes, learning from them, and changing our behavior in the future. These lessons apply not only to humans but organizations as well.