Failure Can Lead to Success - But Only with Triple-Loop Learning

Thomas Edison was only telling half the story when he said some of his most famous words: “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. The reality is that he didn’t just brute-force his way through trial-and-error until he found success, which would be the equivalent of “figuring out” a 4-digit PIN by trying out all 9,999 possible combinations. Instead, he learned something every time and reflected on how he might use this learning in his next iteration.

This seems like a subtle distinction, perhaps even an obvious one, but it holds the key to how his efforts amounted to an eventual breakthrough. Edison went beyond what might be labelled single-loop learning or taking different actions based on the observed results, and instead engaged in double-loop learning by reflecting on his mistakes and thinking differently about the problem.

Argyris and Sch?n famously coined the term double-loop learning to make this important distinction: a person looking at a to measure the temperature in a room represents a single loop, but the same person then checking the measure itself and noticing it’s wrong, then replacing the thermostat, represents a second loop. ?Double-loop learning – changing the way you think about a problem - is critical to solving complex problems.

But what happens when double-loop learning stops producing results? A recent client was struggling, feeling stuck because he couldn’t figure out how to effectively market his niche professional services firm on social media. Again and again, he would try different approaches, measuring results, discussing with this team and trying to look at the challenge through different perspectives. To get unstuck, he had to eventually realize that he didn’t hold the answers and instead would have to rely on others, perhaps even hiring a specialized person in a new role. He didn’t just have to think differently about the problem, but he had to be different: more aware of his limitations, increasingly tolerant of the possibility of failure, and humble enough to ask and accept the help of others.

Triple-loop learning is about making shifts in the way you are, in potentially many capacities: how you tend to make decisions, what you gravitate towards when choosing what to work on first thing in the morning, the way you prefer to tackle a difficult challenge, and so on.

?Odds are that the solution to most problems you will ever face lie in one of these loops, yet there are simple ways to embed them in your day-to-day life. When facing a difficult situation and especially when dealing with failure consider:

·????? Single-loop: How am I approaching this situation?

·????? Double-loop: How am I thinking about this situation?

·????? Triple-loop: How am I being in relation to this situation? What’s my intention? What’s my relationship to it? How am I showing up?

Especially for the most important things you look to create in your life, you will achieve the most significant progress when you are willing to change your actions, thoughts and even something fundamental about yourself.

?I’m a certified Strengths Coach, and Organizational Psychologist and I help my clients define their strengths, discern their potential and design a way forward, on to their next career breakthrough. Learn more .