Why "Failing" Is A Good Thing!
Andreas von der Heydt
Member of the Executive Board - International Business and Online
Dear Life Amplifiers,
Making "mistakes" and “failing” is a good thing. That’s how we learn and progress. Not from textbooks or hearsay. It takes the right mindset and company culture though:
We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success. (Arianna Huffington).
That’s how we embrace failure!
On the other side, there exists in many companies a “blame culture” where mistakes and failure are not allowed. Worse, they’re usually hidden. The fear to be punished makes managers and employees wish for an easier life, a better position where they’ll be less at risk, for less effort. The mantra is, “In case of a failure just blame others instead of trying to help fix things.” As a result, either the initiative dies of lack of momentum, or managers/teams enter into the political game. Unfortunately, being a politician means that they become pretty much useless to organizations that want to perform and succeed.
Then there are leading organizations that consider failures and mistakes as learning opportunities. As a chance to evolve more quickly and in a more innovative way. They encourage failure, rely on thinking outside the box, and allow employees to make mistakes and see what happens. Learning and adapting is the preached mantra. Most importantly, they do not only talk about the culture of failure, but they put it every day into practice by creating the right environment, leadership, and systems.
They celebrate contributors who quickly identify and correct issues because they know that identifying problems helps the business succeed faster. In addition, and that’s a major differentiator to “blame” organizations, they created processes to follow through in a systematic manner once failures are identified.
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A final powerful reminder of Tom Krause: “There are no failures–just experiences and your reactions to them.”
What do you think? Please leave a comment below and join the discussion.
Best regards,
Andreas
Die Gesch?ftsführerin im Setareh Taban Pak GmbH. Ich suche einen Job in Deutschland.
1 年If we check out our process then we are success so I like add ? to your diagram I guess it's necessary item.
Carbon & ESG Expert, Global Sustainable Futures Network, Global Summits, Empowering Communities and Businesses, Sustainability, SDGs and Cresto Awards, C.A.S.T.N.E.T Board Member
1 年Well said Andreas von der Heydt Global Sustainable Futures Progress through Partnerships Network
Director | C-level | Strategic Leader with Proven Business Transformation & Growth Success across Multiple International Retail / Ecommerce Sectors
1 年There's nothing more important than the process of failure in building a well-rounded mentality.
Architectural Designer & Sustainability Consultant. ?Terrarama?
1 年in architecture its called, model making, sketching, envisioning - sadly these things aren't common in most architectural practices. When I was trained in graphic design it was expected to work fast and using as many different mediums so the idea was not to finish but to rush and achieve unexpected results. Iterative Exploration also plays a part in achieving success through process of trial and error.
Solution Architect at DXC Technology
1 年Great thought. Would like to see organizations embracing this. When rubber hits the road there is always a look out to throw folks under the bus. Sadly the norm today