Fail, Learn, Lead
Do you have a lot of room in your organization for people to learn? Or as soon as they step out of their comfort zone, do things get a little scary?
What you do as a leader has a huge impact on the behaviors of others in terms of their own learning. Scott Burken, author of Confessions of a Public Speaker
The person in power defines the culture through their behavior. If the bossman fires people for making a small mistake, people will hide mistakes and obsess about avoiding them, making creativity and innovation unlikely. If the bossman instead sees failures as learning moments, and takes time to teach solutions, or asks the mistake maker what they learned and how it can be avoided next time, people will feel there is room for them to learn. Many people in power are not self-aware enough to see the gap between what they say, and what they do, despite the fact people respond only to the later. Most managers are more punitive and risk-averse than they think they are.
To this point, the leader cannot punish failed experiments. It doesn’t mean that you get fired, you may just get a bad review or get sent to run the Siberian division. Or just a casual comment at a meeting deriding your failure. It doesn’t take much. If failed experiments lead to any punishment, the message is clear – don’t experiment, and don’t try new things.
How to fail, and get away with it..
I think HOW we fail makes a real difference as well. This is why I use the word experimentation. Experiments are structured with the idea in advance that we don’t really know what’s going to happen. We just have a hypothesis, or an educated guess. We expect to get a positive result, but don’t know with certainty. Not only does the process help you learn, but it helps manage expectations, with others and with yourself, that it is a learning process.
The “boss” does need to set the example for this. Many I see are willing to do experiments and have them fail. But they keep their personal experiments, and failures, private. It’s not always that they are afraid of failure; sometimes they think sharing = bragging. But if the boss doesn’t share what they are trying, and failing at, then it is, by definition, hypocrisy.
Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, said:
Failures are not something to be avoided. You want to have them happen as quickly as you can so you can make progress quickly.
The right culture surrounding the right processes can make that environment work.
Two sentences stuck out for me.
1. The person in power defines the culture through their behavior.
2. The Experiments are structured with the idea in advance that we don’t really know what’s going to happen.
“I need help†are the three most difficult words to say to another human being.
I believe there is much power in humility.
Experience has taught me that my experimentation time could have been shortened or eliminated all together if I only asked for help first.
Two sentences stuck out for me.
1. The person in power defines the culture through their behavior.
2. The Experiments are structured with the idea in advance that we don’t really know what’s going to happen.
“I need help†are the three most difficult words to say to another human being.
I believe there is much power in humility.
Experience has taught me that my experimentation time could have been shortened or eliminated all together if I only asked for help first.
Two sentences stuck out for me.
1. The person in power defines the culture through their behavior.
2. The Experiments are structured with the idea in advance that we don’t really know what’s going to happen.
“I need help†are the three most difficult words to say to another human being.
I believe there is much power in humility.
Experience has taught me that my experimentation time could have been shortened or eliminated all together if I only asked for help first.
Th quote I most remeber related to this topic is “Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn” – Charles Dickens.
Past failures prepare you for future successes. It’s the old adage, “Learn from your mistakesâ€. Failures help you realize what didn’t work, so you can find what will work.
Great line Jamie – If failed experiments lead to any punishment, the message is clear – don’t experiment, and don’t try new things.
Tim McMahon
A Lean Journey Blog
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com
Th quote I most remeber related to this topic is “Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn” – Charles Dickens.
Past failures prepare you for future successes. It’s the old adage, “Learn from your mistakesâ€. Failures help you realize what didn’t work, so you can find what will work.
Great line Jamie – If failed experiments lead to any punishment, the message is clear – don’t experiment, and don’t try new things.
Tim McMahon
A Lean Journey Blog
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com
Th quote I most remeber related to this topic is “Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn” – Charles Dickens.
Past failures prepare you for future successes. It’s the old adage, “Learn from your mistakesâ€. Failures help you realize what didn’t work, so you can find what will work.
Great line Jamie – If failed experiments lead to any punishment, the message is clear – don’t experiment, and don’t try new things.
Tim McMahon
A Lean Journey Blog
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com
Plan, Do, Fail, Learn
This is the cycle that has allowed the biggest discoveries in the human history. Not the PDCA. Without it there would be no light (more then 10000 experiments before finding the “right” formula), world would have been a different place.
That is why the failure must be integrated in our systems, in our lives.
And the humility to admit it should be teached to our children in school.
If you look at small children, how they learn, you can observe that they are learning by failing all the time. In the enterprises, we should return to be children and not some kind of growups which think only about a personal interest only “for the better future…”
Plan, Do, Fail, Learn
This is the cycle that has allowed the biggest discoveries in the human history. Not the PDCA. Without it there would be no light (more then 10000 experiments before finding the “right” formula), world would have been a different place.
That is why the failure must be integrated in our systems, in our lives.
And the humility to admit it should be teached to our children in school.
If you look at small children, how they learn, you can observe that they are learning by failing all the time. In the enterprises, we should return to be children and not some kind of growups which think only about a personal interest only “for the better future…”
Plan, Do, Fail, Learn
This is the cycle that has allowed the biggest discoveries in the human history. Not the PDCA. Without it there would be no light (more then 10000 experiments before finding the “right” formula), world would have been a different place.
That is why the failure must be integrated in our systems, in our lives.
And the humility to admit it should be teached to our children in school.
If you look at small children, how they learn, you can observe that they are learning by failing all the time. In the enterprises, we should return to be children and not some kind of growups which think only about a personal interest only “for the better future…”
Jamie;
This really supports the importance of being a leader more than just a manager. A leader models the way and yes that will involve failure. It reminds me of the difference between a good leader or bad leader is that one will make a decision knowing that 50% of the time it could easily be wrong and learn from those, while a bad leader due to fear of being wrong will not make a decision at all. In addition, the key word for me is “humility.” This seems to be a key characteristic in those leading successful continuous improvement culture changes.
Jamie;
This really supports the importance of being a leader more than just a manager. A leader models the way and yes that will involve failure. It reminds me of the difference between a good leader or bad leader is that one will make a decision knowing that 50% of the time it could easily be wrong and learn from those, while a bad leader due to fear of being wrong will not make a decision at all. In addition, the key word for me is “humility.” This seems to be a key characteristic in those leading successful continuous improvement culture changes.
Jamie;
This really supports the importance of being a leader more than just a manager. A leader models the way and yes that will involve failure. It reminds me of the difference between a good leader or bad leader is that one will make a decision knowing that 50% of the time it could easily be wrong and learn from those, while a bad leader due to fear of being wrong will not make a decision at all. In addition, the key word for me is “humility.” This seems to be a key characteristic in those leading successful continuous improvement culture changes.
This post makes me think that we could paraphrase Toyota: “no failure is failure.” Without experimentation, without acknowledging failures, we can’t improve.
This post makes me think that we could paraphrase Toyota: “no failure is failure.” Without experimentation, without acknowledging failures, we can’t improve.
This post makes me think that we could paraphrase Toyota: “no failure is failure.” Without experimentation, without acknowledging failures, we can’t improve.
The word “bossman….” there are too many “bossmen” and “bosswomen” in healthcare, punishment and retribution for mistakes causes people to cover up and hide problems – people die as a result.
I had a very related post today about a talk by Eric Ries, about “lean startups” where he made a very similar point. You don’t punish a mistake – you detect it quickly, fix it, and learn from it. You don’t want to be repeating the same mistakes over and over — that’s a problem if you’re not learning.
http://www.leanblog.org/2010/01/notes-on-a-talk-by-eric-ries-on-lean-startups/
I don’t remember the reference, but it was written that Toyota is successful because they fail so often. Whereas GM was a company where nothing ever failed… except for the whole company. You can spend your time detecting and fixing the root cause of problems or you can spend time playing politics and rationalizing decisions you’ve already made. We know which works better.
The word “bossman….” there are too many “bossmen” and “bosswomen” in healthcare, punishment and retribution for mistakes causes people to cover up and hide problems – people die as a result.
I had a very related post today about a talk by Eric Ries, about “lean startups” where he made a very similar point. You don’t punish a mistake – you detect it quickly, fix it, and learn from it. You don’t want to be repeating the same mistakes over and over — that’s a problem if you’re not learning.
http://www.leanblog.org/2010/01/notes-on-a-talk-by-eric-ries-on-lean-startups/
I don’t remember the reference, but it was written that Toyota is successful because they fail so often. Whereas GM was a company where nothing ever failed… except for the whole company. You can spend your time detecting and fixing the root cause of problems or you can spend time playing politics and rationalizing decisions you’ve already made. We know which works better.
The word “bossman….” there are too many “bossmen” and “bosswomen” in healthcare, punishment and retribution for mistakes causes people to cover up and hide problems – people die as a result.
I had a very related post today about a talk by Eric Ries, about “lean startups” where he made a very similar point. You don’t punish a mistake – you detect it quickly, fix it, and learn from it. You don’t want to be repeating the same mistakes over and over — that’s a problem if you’re not learning.
http://www.leanblog.org/2010/01/notes-on-a-talk-by-eric-ries-on-lean-startups/
I don’t remember the reference, but it was written that Toyota is successful because they fail so often. Whereas GM was a company where nothing ever failed… except for the whole company. You can spend your time detecting and fixing the root cause of problems or you can spend time playing politics and rationalizing decisions you’ve already made. We know which works better.
Oh and one other detail I was going to add – working at the Lean Enterprise Institute, I was involved in a technology experiment for our healthcare network. It was a massive FAIL. Not because it wasn’t planned well or tested thoroughly, there was an unanticipated glitch that popped up 3 minutes before hand. So a great thing about the culture in this organization is that I wasn’t blamed, shamed, punished in the least. I was harder on myself. But it was a learning experience and we have a countermeasure for the future to prevent that problem from derailing us.
Oh and one other detail I was going to add – working at the Lean Enterprise Institute, I was involved in a technology experiment for our healthcare network. It was a massive FAIL. Not because it wasn’t planned well or tested thoroughly, there was an unanticipated glitch that popped up 3 minutes before hand. So a great thing about the culture in this organization is that I wasn’t blamed, shamed, punished in the least. I was harder on myself. But it was a learning experience and we have a countermeasure for the future to prevent that problem from derailing us.
Oh and one other detail I was going to add – working at the Lean Enterprise Institute, I was involved in a technology experiment for our healthcare network. It was a massive FAIL. Not because it wasn’t planned well or tested thoroughly, there was an unanticipated glitch that popped up 3 minutes before hand. So a great thing about the culture in this organization is that I wasn’t blamed, shamed, punished in the least. I was harder on myself. But it was a learning experience and we have a countermeasure for the future to prevent that problem from derailing us.
It seems like we are all blogging about failure today… WIN!
One of my biggest realizations with regards to “safety first” has been exactly what Jamie is pointing out, namely that a leader must create a safe environment professionally and emotionally, and this means allowing intelligent failures.
It seems like we are all blogging about failure today… WIN!
One of my biggest realizations with regards to “safety first” has been exactly what Jamie is pointing out, namely that a leader must create a safe environment professionally and emotionally, and this means allowing intelligent failures.
It seems like we are all blogging about failure today… WIN!
One of my biggest realizations with regards to “safety first” has been exactly what Jamie is pointing out, namely that a leader must create a safe environment professionally and emotionally, and this means allowing intelligent failures.
Jamie,
Your post made me think of Steven Spear’s 2005 HBR article, Fixing Health Care from the Inside, in which he articulated four basic organizational capabilities of a Lean health care organization that desires to deliver Toyota-like operational excellence. They are:
1) Work is designed as a series of ongoing experiments that immediately reveal (think Visual Management)
2) Problems are addressed immediately through rapid experimentation (Kaizen)
3) Solutions are disseminated adaptively through collaborative experimentation (Standard Work)
4) People at all levels of the organization are taught to become experimentalists (Culture)
Mark R Hamel
http://www.gembatales.com
Jamie,
Your post made me think of Steven Spear’s 2005 HBR article, Fixing Health Care from the Inside, in which he articulated four basic organizational capabilities of a Lean health care organization that desires to deliver Toyota-like operational excellence. They are:
1) Work is designed as a series of ongoing experiments that immediately reveal (think Visual Management)
2) Problems are addressed immediately through rapid experimentation (Kaizen)
3) Solutions are disseminated adaptively through collaborative experimentation (Standard Work)
4) People at all levels of the organization are taught to become experimentalists (Culture)
Mark R Hamel
http://www.gembatales.com
Jamie,
Your post made me think of Steven Spear’s 2005 HBR article, Fixing Health Care from the Inside, in which he articulated four basic organizational capabilities of a Lean health care organization that desires to deliver Toyota-like operational excellence. They are:
1) Work is designed as a series of ongoing experiments that immediately reveal (think Visual Management)
2) Problems are addressed immediately through rapid experimentation (Kaizen)
3) Solutions are disseminated adaptively through collaborative experimentation (Standard Work)
4) People at all levels of the organization are taught to become experimentalists (Culture)
Mark R Hamel
http://www.gembatales.com
Thanks everyone for the great additions.
Jim, “I need help” is right up there as top leadership words along with “I don’t know” and “it’s my fault.”
Dragan, I would argue that Plan, Do, Fail, Learn isn’t any different from PDCA. PDCA is only necessary because failures happen, and when effective, learning from both success and failure occurs.
Rick, I think humility is key, and supports Jim’s point about “I need help”. You can’t ask for help without practicing humility.
I do want to emphasize an important point. We should NOT celebrate failure. Failure is still bad. We should celebrate the LEARNING that comes from failure, when practiced properly.
Thanks everyone for the great additions.
Jim, “I need help” is right up there as top leadership words along with “I don’t know” and “it’s my fault.”
Dragan, I would argue that Plan, Do, Fail, Learn isn’t any different from PDCA. PDCA is only necessary because failures happen, and when effective, learning from both success and failure occurs.
Rick, I think humility is key, and supports Jim’s point about “I need help”. You can’t ask for help without practicing humility.
I do want to emphasize an important point. We should NOT celebrate failure. Failure is still bad. We should celebrate the LEARNING that comes from failure, when practiced properly.
Thanks everyone for the great additions.
Jim, “I need help” is right up there as top leadership words along with “I don’t know” and “it’s my fault.”
Dragan, I would argue that Plan, Do, Fail, Learn isn’t any different from PDCA. PDCA is only necessary because failures happen, and when effective, learning from both success and failure occurs.
Rick, I think humility is key, and supports Jim’s point about “I need help”. You can’t ask for help without practicing humility.
I do want to emphasize an important point. We should NOT celebrate failure. Failure is still bad. We should celebrate the LEARNING that comes from failure, when practiced properly.
You have referred to Jason Fried and 37signals.com recently in relation to lean thinking. I enjoy their point of view along with many others – including you of course! Their take on failure is different – they support experimentation, but don’t buy the idea that failure is a necessary step.
That is where to me Gordon Moore’s quote is not quite on the money, as it implies failure is necessary for success. As per your comment above, I think people need to “learn” in order to succeed, and keep learning to keep succeeding.
You have referred to Jason Fried and 37signals.com recently in relation to lean thinking. I enjoy their point of view along with many others – including you of course! Their take on failure is different – they support experimentation, but don’t buy the idea that failure is a necessary step.
That is where to me Gordon Moore’s quote is not quite on the money, as it implies failure is necessary for success. As per your comment above, I think people need to “learn” in order to succeed, and keep learning to keep succeeding.
You have referred to Jason Fried and 37signals.com recently in relation to lean thinking. I enjoy their point of view along with many others – including you of course! Their take on failure is different – they support experimentation, but don’t buy the idea that failure is a necessary step.
That is where to me Gordon Moore’s quote is not quite on the money, as it implies failure is necessary for success. As per your comment above, I think people need to “learn” in order to succeed, and keep learning to keep succeeding.
Yeah Jamie, PDFL is one of the two by-products of PDCA, but usually is the one that does not get considered in the traditional operations… And I wanted to emphasize this fact…
Yeah Jamie, PDFL is one of the two by-products of PDCA, but usually is the one that does not get considered in the traditional operations… And I wanted to emphasize this fact…
Yeah Jamie, PDFL is one of the two by-products of PDCA, but usually is the one that does not get considered in the traditional operations… And I wanted to emphasize this fact…
I’ve enjoyed the many insightful responses to this blog post.
I believe it’s our perception of failure that inhibits trailblazing activity.
The recruitment industry is a classic example of viewing one’s entire career as black and white (success or failure). But then again, I’ve never read a resume that accents failure and the lessons learned from it. Hiring teams waste an inordinate amount of time trying to check the success or failure box.
We like things packaged well. The tough sell are the shades of gray. Would you admit to a prospective employer that you spend more time trying to get it right than doing it right?
Blogging is another example. Jamie inspires critical thinking in his blog more than most. But if people weren’t reading it, would he be a failure (black)? If they were, he succeeds (white). But thinking in shades of gray, the only way for the blog to be a complete failure was that not a single person ever read it.
My first reply mentioned humility. I see humility as the trail away from the black. But the hardest lesson lies in our being grateful for the opportunity to fail.
I’ve enjoyed the many insightful responses to this blog post.
I believe it’s our perception of failure that inhibits trailblazing activity.
The recruitment industry is a classic example of viewing one’s entire career as black and white (success or failure). But then again, I’ve never read a resume that accents failure and the lessons learned from it. Hiring teams waste an inordinate amount of time trying to check the success or failure box.
We like things packaged well. The tough sell are the shades of gray. Would you admit to a prospective employer that you spend more time trying to get it right than doing it right?
Blogging is another example. Jamie inspires critical thinking in his blog more than most. But if people weren’t reading it, would he be a failure (black)? If they were, he succeeds (white). But thinking in shades of gray, the only way for the blog to be a complete failure was that not a single person ever read it.
My first reply mentioned humility. I see humility as the trail away from the black. But the hardest lesson lies in our being grateful for the opportunity to fail.
I’ve enjoyed the many insightful responses to this blog post.
I believe it’s our perception of failure that inhibits trailblazing activity.
The recruitment industry is a classic example of viewing one’s entire career as black and white (success or failure). But then again, I’ve never read a resume that accents failure and the lessons learned from it. Hiring teams waste an inordinate amount of time trying to check the success or failure box.
We like things packaged well. The tough sell are the shades of gray. Would you admit to a prospective employer that you spend more time trying to get it right than doing it right?
Blogging is another example. Jamie inspires critical thinking in his blog more than most. But if people weren’t reading it, would he be a failure (black)? If they were, he succeeds (white). But thinking in shades of gray, the only way for the blog to be a complete failure was that not a single person ever read it.
My first reply mentioned humility. I see humility as the trail away from the black. But the hardest lesson lies in our being grateful for the opportunity to fail.
Great post here. I like the idea of embracing situations with a higher possibility for failure as “experimental”. The idea that you (more or less) state that you are uncertain of the consequences, but are pursuing them anyways show qualities (IMHO) that will prove more valuable than any perfect track record will.
Great post here. I like the idea of embracing situations with a higher possibility for failure as “experimental”. The idea that you (more or less) state that you are uncertain of the consequences, but are pursuing them anyways show qualities (IMHO) that will prove more valuable than any perfect track record will.
Great post here. I like the idea of embracing situations with a higher possibility for failure as “experimental”. The idea that you (more or less) state that you are uncertain of the consequences, but are pursuing them anyways show qualities (IMHO) that will prove more valuable than any perfect track record will.
Thanks for the continued comments everyone.
Jim, while I do write for myself, the blog would be a failure if no one read it. Thankfully, many people do.
Jason, great point. I think your track record is only as good as your last event, so the more you learn, the better FUTURE events will be.
Thanks for the continued comments everyone.
Jim, while I do write for myself, the blog would be a failure if no one read it. Thankfully, many people do.
Jason, great point. I think your track record is only as good as your last event, so the more you learn, the better FUTURE events will be.
Thanks for the continued comments everyone.
Jim, while I do write for myself, the blog would be a failure if no one read it. Thankfully, many people do.
Jason, great point. I think your track record is only as good as your last event, so the more you learn, the better FUTURE events will be.