At what point do we consider something a failure? When it doesn’t work the first time? When it doesn’t work the 100th time? Thomas Edison had two very pithy things to say about failure:
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Thomas Edison
and
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas Edison
Framing failure in a positive light is essential to continuous learning, innovation, and creativity. Cultures that encourage risk-taking are often found in industry-leading companies like Apple and Google.
Specifically, how can we examine a “failure” with an attitude of learning and continuous improvement?
- Plan a retrospective after every major initiative. This can include big projects like product launches, but even small marketing campaigns should be examined, perhaps even on a daily basis. Include these questions in your team meetings and weekly one-on-one meetings with your employees to embed this into your company’s culture.
- Dig into the project with curiosity and an open mind. What do we assess was the breakdown? What did we hope would happen? What actually happened? Look at the facts first before examining assumptions. What were the expectations?
- List what you will start doing. What will you do next time that you didn’t do this time? What will you do differently?
- List what you will stop doing. What was ineffective or unproductive? What impeded progress, or simply was unnecessary?
- List what you will continue doing. What worked well?
- Document these conversations and circulate the findings. Share the knowledge, but more importantly share this process as a cultural norm that you expect everyone to follow and respect.
Put these tips into practice both with your own thinking and with your teams. Creating an environment that is conducive to learning is a key practice in fostering innovation, creativity, and success.
If you need help developing this mindset, or creating this environment in your organization, I can help with one-on-one coaching or team workshops.
Matt McLaughlin helps conscious companies build transformational leaders and teams. He has over 20 years of experience building high-performance teams and has practiced and taught meditation for 30 years. He brings a deep passion for companies that foster social and environmental sustainability and views business as a crucial component of societal change.
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