ENGINEERING A SUCCESSFUL FAILURE
Teams that take chances and push past their comfort zones share one thing in common: Their members feel safe to experiment— and even to fail. According to Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, the key is finding valuable lessons in those failures that inspire your team to succeed. The following steps will create an environment where failure is treated as a necessary learning tool.
LOOK FOR SMALL FAILURES
A colossal failure can sink an organization. But large-scale failures often are made up of many small ones. Focus on catching and correcting those first missteps before they metastasize into larger problems.
PROMOTE OPENNESS
Encourage teams to admit mistakes, ask for help, and confront uncomfortable situations. Scolding people for their mistakes can hurt their self-confidence and discourage them from analyzing what went wrong.
ASK QUESTIONS
Failure can evoke strong emotions in employees and managers. Resist doling out blame or punishment. Instead, react with thoughtful questions: “What didn’t work? How can we improve?”
KEEP THE STAKES LOW
In a trial setting, failure can yield key information while keeping the stakes relatively low. Seek low-risk opportunities for your team to test out innovation.
MAKE ROOM FOR CHANGE
Sometimes failures reveal flaws in a team’s thinking. Give team members the latitude to question, challenge, and revise their approach to the problem at hand.