What do you do if your virtual team's failure becomes a catalyst for innovation and creativity?

Failing allows us to revisit processes and procedures that need to be revamped. It also allows us to grow together as a team and organization. Be open and honest with the employees who were part of the process, asked for feedback about the situation and utilize this group to determine next steps and areas for improvement. All of this should be done in live sessions and, if possible, could be done in a face to face environment to give full attention to the situation AND celebrate any wins from the previous task.

In fact, occasionally failing is not a problem, it is part of the growth of individuals and teams. The first thing to do is create a transparent environment or culture that is tolerant of failures, and at the same time an environment where corrective analysis is immediate, creating a quick and executable action plan. At all costs, pointing the finger at the possible responsible party/parties must be avoided. It must be ensured that everyone is empowered to review and indicate failures and quick corrective actions. If the number of failures is significant over a period of time, then a systemic analysis needs to be done.

When your virtual team encounters failure, turning it into a catalyst for innovation and creativity involves several steps. First, embrace a culture that views failure as a stepping stone to growth rather than a setback. Encourage open communication and feedback to analyze what went wrong and why. Use this analysis to identify areas for improvement and brainstorm innovative solutions. Foster a mindset of experimentation and risk-taking, where team members feel empowered to propose and implement new ideas. Finally, celebrate successes and learn from failures, creating a continuous cycle of improvement and innovation within your virtual team.

Transparency and objectivity are key elements. First, it is to declare "we have a problem", immediately try to determine what failed and absolutely NOT look for culprits (who). You have to take a deep breath and look at the problem. If it is complex and involves many parts, you have to separate it and/or clean up the environment of the problem, to try to have more clarity on the action plan. Once there is clarity, you have to let the experts work on it. Once solved, determine the root cause so that it does not happen again. Finally, do a retrospection process and look for opportunities. Every failure brings opportunities, in many cases innovation, especially when the environment is open and the team has a positive view of the opportunity.

After an event of failure, is is very healthy for the organization to ask themself: What did we learn from this? What could we do differently next time? How can we innovate or improve our processes based on this experience? What opportunities emerged that we should explore further? A failure event can be a great catalyst for positive change, growth and innovation if approached with openness, objectivity and a solutions-focused mindset. The key is to create a culture of learning, empowerment, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

The diversity of cultures, ages, gender, education, profession, thought, and skills are extremely important in any team and even more so if they have aspirations or intend to be creative and innovative. The diversity of ways of seeing life, work, business, and its complexities will enable the team to bring all their different perspectives to the best possible solution for whatever problem they are facing. Imagine a team that all thinks the same or similarly... it would be very difficult to find a diversity of solutions to the great diversity of challenges we face.

What you always have to have as clear as possible is the purpose, what you want to achieve. From there, the ability to measure progress, identify difficulties, have the flexibility to adapt the path based on mistakes or simply changes in the environment, to review the path traveled to see what can be improved, are crucial to achieving that purpose. The purpose must be transparent and shared with the entire team; the team has to feel it as their own. This reminds me of the pillars of SCRUM: transparency, inspection, and adaptability. As well as the Sprint itself.

I really believe that teams must have some rituals, where people connect outside of work. I believe that creating transparent personal bonds helps to develop more empathy, understanding, loyalty, trust, and of course cohesion. In my personal case, I have always tried to generate closer relationships with the people I have worked with, outside of the work environment; at least for me, that has never prevented me from making difficult decisions afterward. I believe that showing your human side to colleagues, bosses or direct reports generates a better working relationship.