In the business world, many executives believe that all failure is wrong (even if it can teach us) and that learning from it is relatively easy. In business, as in life, some failures are inevitable, and some are even good.
Despite the resistance to failure that an organization may have, the wisdom that comes from learning from them is undeniable.
Failure is not always bad, but learning from them during day-to-day business operations is not easy.
The attitudes and activities required to detect and analyze failures effectively are in short supply in most companies, and the need for context-specific learning strategies for each loss is underestimated.
Failure and guilt are virtually inseparable in most organizations and cultures. All children learn at some point that admitting failure means accepting the blame. That is why few organizations have moved to a culture where the rewards of learning from failure are encouraged and valued.
A detailed understanding of the causes and contexts of failure helps avoid the fear of guilt while promoting effective strategies for learning from failure.
Only leaders can create and reinforce a culture that counters the fear of guilt and makes people feel comfortable and responsible for emerging and learning from failure.
Business leadership must insist that their organizations develop a clear understanding of what happened, not “who did it” when things go wrong. This requires reporting small and significant flaws, analyzing them, and proactively seeking opportunities to experiment and grow from this experience.
Once a failure has been detected, it is essential to go beyond the obvious and superficial reasons to understand the root causes. This requires discipline and even enthusiasm to ensure that the proper lessons are learned, and the right solutions are applied. The job of company leaders is to ensure that their organizations move on after failure and discover the knowledge it contains.
In short, exceptional businesses are those that go beyond detecting and analyzing failures and attempting to experiment with the purpose of learning and innovating. It’s not that the managers of these organizations enjoy failure, but they recognize it as a necessary by-product of experimentation. These experiments or tests don’t have to be big-budget experiments; a small pilot, a trial of a new technique, or a simulation will often answer the questions.