Is there a right way to fail?

According to the latest book from Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson not all failures are equal - here’s how to fail well.

The ‘fail fast, fail often’ mantra has long been a staple in the startup vernacular, but in research from the new book by Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson it seems ‘failing intelligently’ should be the reframe instead.

Intelligent Failures, researched by Professor Edmondson in her new book aptly titled ‘The Right Kind of Wrong’, give a more sophisticated outlook on failure.?

Moving beyond ‘fail fast, fail often’ - which often errs more along the lines of gambling - Intelligent Failures provide a valuable framework that supports everything from real innovation in organisations, to successfully going on blind dates with that recent Tinder match.

In our recent podcast interview on We Are Human Leaders , Professor Amy Edmondson described Intelligent Failure as

Failures in new territory that occur during the pursuit of a goal. They are hypothesis driven, which really means you've done your homework, you're not just randomly throwing darts at the wall… and fourth, the failure is as small as possible. Which means that the risk was just big enough to get the information that you needed.

This is distinct from other types of failure she highlights in her book such as basic and complex failures, as it requires us to consider and manage potential risk before diving in feet first.

The 3 kinds of failure

Professor Edmondson identifies the 3 kinds of failure that emerged from her research:?

Intelligent failures take place in new territory, in a context with a credible opportunity to advance towards a desired goal, informed by available knowledge and with as low risk as possible to provide valuable insights.?

Basic failures: take place in well-trodden territory, have a single cause, unproductive, preventable, often human error, which do not give rise to new learning. Everyday occurrences that may or may not have serious repercussions.

Complex failures: are multi-causal, happen in familiar settings which present a degree of complexity where multiple factors interact in unexpected ways. Often have at least one external, seemingly uncontrollable factor. Often preceded by subtle warning signs.?

The human discomfort of failure

Unfortunately, many of us spend our lives avoiding the pursuit of new or challenging things, due to the real physical, emotional and mental discomfort that failures give us.?

As Professor Edmondson explains in the conversation, this is a natural part of being a human being, but understanding how failure affects us individually can help us to overcome our avoidance of it.

According to her research, aversion, confusion and fear are the three core reasons people avoid failure. Here’s what they mean:

Aversion is our natural, hardwired aversion to the discomfort of failure. We want to succeed, we want to look good, we want to win, we don't want to fail. It's a very natural part of the human condition.

Confusion is when we lack a useful framework for separating good failure from bad failure. We don’t know how to evaluate failure effectively, so we avoid it.

Fear is the social stigma of failure that other people will reject you for failing. This is a primal, collective fear that is distinct from the individual emotional reaction.

“Fear refers to the social stigma of failure, that other people will reject you or won't want you as part of the group” she said, “It’s a pretty primal fear, but it's distinct from just that emotional reaction as individuals. It's the collective social part of [failure avoidance].”

Shifting from failing, to intelligently failing

Helpfully, Professor Edmondson also offers a framework for responding to failure in a more productive way, and it’s simpler than you might think.

Often when we’re struck by the discomfort of failure our well-ingrained cognitive patterns will take hold of us, supporting us to move as swiftly as possible away from the discomfort. The problem with reactivity is that it robs us of our opportunity to learn from failure.

The next time you notice yourself sinking into the shame and embarrassment of failure Professor Edmondson recommends that you Stop, Challenge and Choose.

Stop to disrupt the reactive and automatic response to failure by noticing the challenging emotions it brings, and breathing through them.

Challenge your thoughts about the failure, and verbalise them out loud so you can reflect more objectively.

Choose to respond differently so you move further towards your actual goal, rather than react how you always have.

When it comes to workplace teams Professor Edmondson suggests that failing together, as a group and doing so transparently helps reduce the personal sting failure can bring.

“We feel the sting of failure when you feel it's isolating you… suddenly you are alone because you screwed up and others are going to reject you. But failure can also be quite a bonding experience, like, “oh, that's happened to me too.”

“When we're open about it [failure], I think we can kind of get through anything as long as we have a feeling that we're in it together,” said Professor Edmondson.

Failing fast might have got us this far, but it’s Intelligent Failure that will move us most productivity forward.

‘The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well’, Professor Amy Edmondson’s latest book, collating over a decade of her research is released September 4th in Australia, coinciding with the release of the We Are Human Leaders podcast episode ‘The Right Kind of Wrong: How Failing is Key to Success’ with Alexis Zahner and Sally Clarke.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST CONVERSATION