The Power of Language: Is Your Word Choice Impacting Performance?
"Fail Smart." "Fail Forward." "Fail Up." These phrases often dress up the concept of failure in a positive light and have become a mainstay in the vocabulary of modern business. But I propose we go one step further. What if we eliminate the term "failure" altogether, even in contexts meant to motivate and inspire?
The very acknowledgment of failure tends to diminish our efforts and growth, casting a shadow over the work of continuous improvement. Traditionally, failure also implies a sense of finality. A fixed mindset that sees a dead end when the target goal isn't reached. But is that really the case? If we consider learning, growing, and improving as integral parts of our existence, then failure becomes obsolete.
At my company, CultureID Insights , we have reimagined our vocabulary and mindset to embrace a more constructive approach. New solutions and ideas are not only welcomed but are seen as vital steps in our journey. The outcome – whether it aligns with our initial goals or not – is secondary to progress itself. We don't 'fail forward' – we evolve.?
When our actions lead us somewhere other than the predicted outcome, it’s not a signal of time wasted. Instead, we find the lesson or use the experience as a baseline to generate strategic next steps. What didn’t work well today could be the game-changer we need tomorrow to enhance client experiences or streamline our processes.
The next time you're about to use the word “fail,” ask yourself what could happen if you replaced it with a word like “discovery” or “experiment” instead. Let’s foster a culture that recognizes and celebrates growth and redefine how our teams perceive their impact.
Spiritual Practitioner | Award-Winning Speaker | Author
8 个月Yes... AND.... It is not lost on me that the "fail forward" "fail faster" phrases are meant to destigmatize the negative overlay on the word fail. There are many times while in an iterative phase of growth that we do in fact fail at the attempted step. This, seen and stigmatized as a negative, is why people lean away from the idea of failure. So reframing failure as a good step with the recent phrases can help shed more light on the good side of failure. Failure is part of experimentation and evolution and the more we can accept that, the less we will be hindered by it and embrace the whole picture of the discovery, leaning, evolving process. I believe we need both a more wholesome view of failure (less stigmatized and negative), as well as an inclusion of and focus on the larger arenas in which failure occurs as a natural part of the process, those of discovery, innovation, creativity, learning, evolution. Holding the complexities of the opposing forces in this equation with grace is another area of growth we can lean into - and we may fail at that sometimes. ??
Global Head of Human Resources executive for Freewheel (a Comcast Company). Developer of global people, culture and strategy for the Americas, EMEA and APAC.
8 个月This resonates so powerfully, I am just leaving a leadership conference where I stated "let's create a culture that allows people to "fail", learn and recover. my intention was right but the word choice based on this article wasn't the best. It would have been so much more powerful if I said "Lets create an environment where our employees can "discover, learn and evolve." Thank you for this article.