Do You Have the Stamina to Fail?

Much has been written about the importance of learning to fail, and fail well.  So much so that in recent years it’s become the mantra of almost each and every tech start-up around the world. But beyond the rallying cries, motivational slogans and glib sound-bites what does this really mean?  And how can it be achieved?  In my experience, the answer to both these questions can be found largely by looking at how successful organisations create a culture of collaboration and energy to address their problems.  

Almost without exception, every effective and successful organisation we work with views complex problem solving as a collaborative activity.  They commit to providing the necessary resources, skills and tools required to promote, and reward, effective group-orientated problem solving. No matter the experience or ability of any given individual they know that solutions are always stronger when shaped by teams.  In addition, the entire process is energised when problems are viewed objectively, seen as systemic opportunities and addressed free from the toxicity of blame. 
 
Broadly speaking, we see that all cutting-edge organisations really do share these behaviours. They implement a process that closes the gap between what happened and what should have happened, and alongside that, they develop and support an environment that maximises the opportunity to learn from the overall event. 
 

• Solve in teams
• Define their problems clearly
• Promote analysis over narrative 
• Start with ‘what’ never ‘who’
• Evaluate all possible solutions
• Learn from the event
• Share that learning quickly and freely

If you want to know more about how our Root Cause Analysis and Tactical Problem Solving methodology could help your organisation solve problems, reduce risk and improve performance please contact us.