Great Morning Team!
The one area we don’t seem to talk about often is the concept of failure as a good thing, even a great thing for our continual growth and development. I remember when our Psychological Safety Team and I first learned about the concept of failure, as we all read The Fearless Organization, by Amy Edmondson. She spoke candidly about the three types of mistakes / “failures”:
Simple: Ex: Clicking “reply-all” to an email
Complex: The “perfect storm” of a collection of mishaps leading to failure. Ex: An ADP Team member delayed one of our file feeds last year to our FSA carrier, and did not communicate it to our ADP Open Enrollment specialist, resulting in a domino effect of miscommunications, confusion and an entire team working on a weekend to fix the issue so all staff would have their FSA benefit cards on time.
Intelligent: These are mistakes & failures we celebrate: These are the moments where we try, experiment and test in small ways a new approach to doing something. We may not get it right the first time or the first 40 times, but we learn from those experiences, and we grow and innovate better and faster as a result.
In our growth culture, ALL mistakes are valued, especially when we learn from them. To illustrate this further, check out this short 7 minute, 9 second inspiring video by Amy Edmondson: (Click here.) Amy explains the discoveries of failing well, and how failure is part of the journey to success.
Additionally, I wanted to share a post I found on Linked In, written by Costas K. Gian, an HR Consultant. He captures the essence of failure so positively, simply and meaningfully, and I wanted to share his perspective with you all:
Failure Isn’t the End….It’s Just the Start of Growth
It took me years to realize this:
Every time I failed, I got something new…
A new stepping stone to resilience.
And with every new stepping stone, I built stairs to go up.
Resilience is about turning setbacks into growth.
Growth is about embracing each fall as a chance to:
– Stand back up, stronger.
– Learn from what went wrong.
– Keep moving forward, no matter what.
Failure is not a dead-end.
It’s a roadmap.
– Every stumble shows you what doesn’t work.
– Every lesson learned gets you closer to what does.
– Each step strengthens you for the road ahead.
Because:
It builds character.
And yes, it might even lead you to new success.
If you avoid failure, you’re missing the point.
Here’s the truth:
You grow through every fall.
Here are 6 Steps for this:
1. Fall and Accept It
– Let yourself feel the fall.
– It’s okay to stumble, just don’t stay down.
2. Acknowledge What Happened
– Admit the misstep.
– Ignoring won’t help, facing it will.
3. Investigate the Why
– Look closer at what led here.
– Understand the root, not just the result.
4. Learn and Keep the Lesson
– There’s a takeaway in every failure.
– Make sure it sticks with you.
5. Realign Your Path
– Adjust your plan with what you’ve learned.
– Shift forward with new insight.
6. Evolve and Keep Growing
– Fall in love with the change in you.
– Each step makes you stronger and wiser.
Remember:
“Failure isn’t the opposite of success, it’s part of success.”
Fail fast to succeed faster. Have you thought of failure like that yet?
I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.
Wishing you all a Better We, Better Week! 😊
Lori Beth
