We associate failure since childhood with humiliation and rejection. At the same time, none of us would learn cycling, skis, etc., if it wasn't for multiple falls along the way.
Culture rewarding perfection does not leave room for reflection or learning. In the business world, where the pressure on the result is huge, and the pace of change, failure is often treated as the worst possible scenario. Meanwhile, test versions of programs, applications or products are just used to map potential errors and introduce improvements.
More and more organizations are trying to build a culture that transforms a defeat into an element of experiment and learning, not through threadbare slogans, but through a specific framework. This approach promotes the innovation and building of the company's immunity.
Failure is an essential element of innovation
Ally Heinrich in the article “Why failing is critical to your team's success”, published in the Harvard Business School online, writes about the role of the role of failure in professional life. Errors drive innovation, which is why companies should build a culture of experiment and adaptation. Referring to the research of prof. Amy Edmondson mentions three types of errors and describes their impact on our actions.
Basic errorsresulting from negligence, ignorance or breaking the principles. Most often they are expensive and should not be accepted.
Complex errorswhich arise as a result of the coexistence of many factors. Difficult to predict and often inevitable in complex systems.
Intelligent errors appearing in new areas, where we deliberately take the risk to gain new knowledge. They have the greatest developmental value.
According to prof. Edmondson, The worst thing is to hide mistakes, because then we don't learn anything. But if they are able to identify and understand them earlier, they become a catalyst for changes. It is important to experiment, with low risk, with a clearly set hypothesis and readiness for a real change.
Further defeats are evidence that we can adapt. In modern organizations, they are conscious experiments, not stumbles, they determine the way to development.
We are afraid of failures because we are talking too little about them
Propaganda of success, fear of losing competitiveness and recorded, largely by social-media, a narrative in which only the final effect is visible, they are not conducive to the treatment of trips as integral parts of the process.
The proof of how much the awareness of errors standing behind each success is needed is the establishment of the Dobra Foundation for Life. It is a non-profit organization that aims to develop culture culture. Its founder is Jarek Łojewski, a business trainer, mentor and, as he says about himself, a “defeat”. As part of the foundation, he conducts research, organizes trainings and creates tools and methods supporting lessons from the mistakes made.
The defeat was also the subject of the panel during the eighth edition of the meetings from the series “Let's Talk About It!”, Which took place on June 12 in Rzeszów. – I think it's rare about failures. People hide them in themselves, they are embarrassed to talk about them because they treat them like something embarrassing – explains Małgorzata Rycak, the founder of the “Let's Talk About It” group, bringing together the IT industry community. Of the three topics, the one about errors and failures received the greatest support – 44 percent. community votes. This shows how much an open conversation on this topic is needed today.
– We wanted to tame people with this topic and show that you can get lessons from every trip. That is why I wanted speakers who would share their experiences in a transparent and authentic way. Failure does not have to be the end of the world, but it can be a new opening – says Rycak.
We decide whether something was a failure or a lesson
The panelists agreed: the word “failure” in Polish has extremely heavy emotional luggage. Ewa Okołotowicz, Communication Expert at Nokia, pointed out that maybe the problem is already starting at school, where every error is emphasized with a red pen, building negative associations.
According to experts, the key is to change the perspective. Aleksandra Małozień, director of communication at Śnieżka, emphasized that in fact It depends on us whether something is a failure. Although it is not easy, it is worth looking for valuable data instead of perceiving it as a definitive end. – Do we know a lot from superpilots about aviation? No, we know it from black on -board boxes – she added little, suggesting that error analysis is the foundation of progress.
Marek Wesołek, CEO of Sente, admitted that in 2008, as a result of the crisis and its own operational errors, the company almost went bankrupt. – It was because we experienced this defeat, the next 10 years were our best years of development. We got the Forbes diamond as the fastest growing company in Lower Silesia – he emphasized.
How to tame professional failures?
What to do when we feel the feeling of crushing after a professional trip? Here are the practical advice of experts:
Separate emotions from facts. – The lesson from failures begins where we can separate emotions from facts – says Aleksandra Małozień. It is worth having a trusted person next to you who will help you look at the side of the side, without emotional overinterpretation.
We are not a failure. This is one of the most important thoughts of the panel, emphasized by Karol Kapuściński, Head of Growth at Nofluffjobs.
We have the right to emotions. Before we start drawing conclusions, we should give ourselves time to experience anger or disappointment.
Let's take care of ourselves when it's okay. It's best to prepare for the crisis before it comes. It is worth focusing on building strong, trust -based, relationships and taking care of your own mental condition.
Let's practice the risk. Aleksandra Małozieć encourages us to consciously expose to small, controlled risks. Thanks to this, the failure will be lighter to digest.
Stagnation is worse than failure
In response to the question of one of the participants about “gray, bland” and drifting without clear failures, Marek Wesołek said that such stagnation is terrifying for him. He emphasized that drifting in its definition is in itself a failure, because it involves a lack of ambitious goals, development and readiness to risk. His perspective clearly indicates that active action and development, even with the risk of failure, are better than theoretically safe stagnation.
