ENJOY AND APPLY THIS EXCERPT FROM AN ISSUE OF FRESH IDEAS:
RISK FAILING WELL
Uncertainty is part of the creative process. You can’t avoid the risk of failure when you experiment with something that is truly new. So approach every outcome as an opportunity to learn.
Two essential catalysts for failing forward are:
- Separating how you view a failure from how you see yourself.
- Taking a proactive approach to risking failure, by creating a series of incremental experiments to unravel tough challenges.
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Photo by Tom Palumbo |
“If you’re not making a mistake it’s a mistake.” - Jazz musician Miles Davis Casting yourself as a confident learner helps you respond to outcomes objectively, as a matter of cause and effect. Responding to setbacks and unexpected outcomes with curiosity and confidence increases the likelihood you really will learn something new - and encourages others to do the same. In the words of Tal Ben Shahar, “Learn to fail or fail to learn. |
Approaching a challenge as a series of experiments is a form of applied learning. Shifting your mindset from “must avoid mistakes” to “what do we want to learn?” puts you in a proactive creative position. When you purposefully test assumptions, elicit responses to early ideas, and integrate what you’re learning into the creation of the next experiment you dramatically increase your odds of success.
"Everybody talks about their successes, but the failures, the mistakes, are the most interesting things," says Alex Lee, President of OXO; “Our wrong assumptions lead to the best learning." Some of his favorite mistakes include: over-generalizing, assuming a commonality of experience; creating solutions that create another problem; and solving problems others don’t need to be “solved.”
Putting This into Play
Exercising this strategy will build your creative confidence, and can change the culture of a team or entire organization. Try playing with a few of these approaches, or come up with a few of your own.
“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.”- Sam Levenson |
On Your Own |
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List the biggest mistakes you’ve made to date. Next to each mistake, note what you learned, and how you can use it to accelerate your long term success. Identify one specific behavior you can change that will encourage others to risk failing well. Refine this personal change as you note the impact it has. Watch for mistakes others make, or that you read about. Find ways to translate their mistakes into good ideas for yourself. |
With Others
During a team meeting, ask participants to share stories describing their best mistakes and how these mistakes informed future successes. Lead the way with your stories. Or, simply use this question as an icebreaker: “What’s the best mistake you ever made?”
Identify a project you’ve been hammering away at for longer than you’d like. Look for a way to win or fail faster— testing a prototype or getting feedback that will help you confirm or change your strategy.
(Did you know that Henry Ford forgot to put a reverse gear on his first automobile?)