You’re struggling to innovate in your business. How can you turn failure into a learning opportunity?

I see 'failure' as a spectrum: 'Bad' failure wastes resources and does nothing to move our learning journey towards. 'Good' failure enables us to analyse what happened, what was within and outside of our control, how we could act differently in the future, share insight with others, and grow - as individuals and teams. We need to reimagine our definition of failure and start talking about 'experince', 'perspective' and 'lifelong learning'. One of the best resources for this conversation about failure is the film 'General Magic' - about a tiny start-up that dared to change the world!

En el proceso de innovación el fracaso es un paso mas hacia el éxito. La innovación es incierta y lleva aparejados riesgos importantes, por lo tanto los resultados pueden no ser los esperados. Tenemos que preguntarnos qué hemos aprendido de esa experiencia, qué pensamos hacer diferente, qué aspectos positivos hemos descubierto y qué otras formas de abordar el problema vemos.

It is much easier to learn from failure than learn from success. However, in many cultures failure of a business is still stigmatized. I believe that it is important to get rid of such stigmas and embrace the learning opportunities that come from failed experiments. Many founders of startup companies have started building different business before - but have run out of money, have failed to find product market fit or similar. Yet these experiences have often thought them crucial lessons - and the companies they have gone on to build would not have existed, had they not failed (and learned from that) before.

Identifying room for improvement in innovation lies in scrutinizing the failed attempts. Experience has taught me that conducting post-mortems on these initiatives is important. By analyzing missteps, understanding customer reactions, and probing market responses, companies gain invaluable insights. This process transforms failures into learning opportunities, fostering a culture that thrives on evolving through lessons learned.

Acknowledge the effort you put into a task or project, even if it doesn't lead to the desired outcome. Celebrate the progress you've made, and recognize that improvement is a continuous journey. Find the joy even in the failures and take them as an experience to kickstart again.

Flexibility is a key attribute in business innovation. You may start an innovation journey in a particular domain with a set of assumptions and hypothesis. Be prepared for things to change as facts emerge. Rarely is the final product or service exactly what was imagined when the journey began. Which is ok.

To experiment and iterate, a kitchen table pragmatic approach fosters a hands-on, practical mindset. It encourages constant experimentation and learning by allowing for informal, collaborative sessions. As they say "at the kitchen table, ideas flow freely, and testing becomes organic". This setting promotes iterative improvements, encouraging teams to experiment, fail, and learn swiftly, aligning perfectly with the iterative nature of innovation.

Sometimes starting with a step having the highest probability of success is a much better option than starting in a traditional method.

Learning from others is vital in turning failure into a learning opportunity, especially when innovation seems stagnant. In my journey, seeking advice and insights from mentors and industry peers has been invaluable. Their experiences act as a compass, guiding through challenges and offering new perspectives. It's not about copying their success but understanding the principles behind their strategies and adapting them to my unique context. Collaboration, too, is key. It brings diverse skills and ideas to the table, sparking creativity and offering solutions that might not be evident when working alone. Embracing this collective wisdom has often been the catalyst for breakthroughs in my business.

Colaborar con otros es una fuente de inspiración para nuestro proceso de innovación. Ver cómo afrontan los problemas, aprender de distintas mentalidades y puntos de vista, compartir esfuerzos, generar comunidades de aprendizaje, completar herramientas y habilidades.

Start by countering stigma. Eulogize ‘noble failures’ internally, share your mistakes first. If the founder pretends missteps didn’t happen, nobody documents vulnerabilities. Truth sets future immunity in motion. Implement radically candid post-mortems focused on root causes, not blame. Pick battles big enough that winning seemed probable so the losses feel important to unpack. Then reallocate now freed-up resources to address past oversights and test alternative models. Does the need you identified still persist albeit requiring new solutions? Bounce forward using failure’s energy. Let go of sunk costs and dead ends by redirecting capacity towards resurrection experiments. Awaken innovation through past ashes. Onward.

I believe there are several layers to shaping an innovation culture. Drawing from the extensively studied COM-B Model for Behavior Change, it is essential to establish three fundamental levers: Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation, in order to cultivate the desired behaviors. Example Questions to ask yourself: Does my organization possess the right skills (capability)? Does their ecoystem allow them showcasing these behaviours, i.e. will they be accepted for it (Opportunity)? Are individuals in your organization convinced this it the right path (Motivation)?

A Team with an open and growth mindset view failure as a stepping stone to progress. We must embrace failure as a valuable learning experience. Embracing this mindset encourages exploration, experimentation, and risk-taking. Instead of dwelling on the setback, individuals with an open mindset analyze what went wrong, extract lessons, and apply them to future endeavours. This approach fosters resilience, adaptability, and continuous improvement, turning innovation failure into a platform for growth and innovation.

A growth mindset is not something you have or don’t have. It’s something you can practice every day. As Carol Dweck said, “The hand you are dealt is just the starting point for development." To cultivate a growth mindset, you need to: Be persistent and learn from constructive criticism Seek out avenues of learning and use the power of "yet". Example: "I can't code" becomes "I can't code... yet" Develop a mindset of continuous improvement and set specific goals. Use the SMART framework if necessary Cultivate self-acceptance and self-approval. Calm your inner critique Celebrate the process, not just the outcome

Carl Dweck nos recuerda que una persona con una mentalidad de crecimiento 1) afronta los retos 2) es persistente ante las dificultades 3) piensa que el esfuerzo lleva al aprendizaje, 4) entiende que las criticas sirven para mejorar y 5) el éxito de otros sirve de inspiración. Esta mentalidad de crecimiento es vital para desarrollar la innovación.

What about hosting an event to share the failures we have experienced, whether in the last quarter, semester, or year? Just as we have All Hands Meetings to celebrate successes, we could create a more reflective gathering. Here, we could recognize the best-told story of our failures, focusing on what we've learned and what we've achieved as a result of these setbacks. Embracing our failures as much as our successes can foster a culture of growth and resilience. I have done this for project or initiative post-mortem but not at scale.

Much of this article is focussed on failure vs success as if there are just two options. And yet within each project or initiative that fails there are often many things that can be built on in the future, or that went unexpectedly well. So an important mindset to get value from past initiatives is to identify these "bright spots" which can often be the core of a new and more successful innovation. Perhaps these target an unexpected niche, or a different customer target, or a subset of features etc. So don't see failure as a digital option -?learn systematically from these mini-successes to build a system that does work.