As I considered what to name this post, my first thought was not “How to Fail”. I am not sure how attracted people would be to what seemed like a step by step article on how to do that which we all seek to avoid. However, hear me out on this.
A few years ago, a movie chronicling the flight of Apollo 13 was released. Within that movie, there is a famous scene in which Flight Director Gene Kranz (played brilliantly by Ed Harris) leads a brainstorming session with his team, to explore ways to have the crew returned safely back to earth. As he searched for answers, his team’s only contribution was a list of reasons why the task before them was not only difficult to achieve, but was in fact impossible to accomplish.
Kranz then announces the famous line that later became the title of his book, “Failure is Not an Option” (if you have not seen the movie, the scene is worth watching here).
I have seen people use this snippet as a motivation tool to provide energy and challenge to a team to overcome impossible odds (just as the Apollo 13 team did). In the right context, this has proven very effective. But I have also seen teams become paralyzed as the risk of failure outweighs the reward of success. If failure is not allowed, then the only way we can be certain to avoid it, is to not try at all. This paralysis can be deadly to the life of an organization, for without risk innovation, creativity and growth will come to a standstill.
In response to this issue, it has become popular in the last many years for thought leaders in corporate management to coin the term “fail fast”. It is intended to help companies to foster a culture in which creativity and innovation are encouraged. Of course, the goal is not to encourage failure for failure’s sake, but rather to allow people to make mistakes and learn from them.
But there are times in which Kranz’s words ring true. At times, the stakes are so great, that we must succeed or there will be consequences that are beyond our control such as the loss of a customer or potentially, even worse. In such cases, it is easy for management to send mixed messages.
We have all seen situations where leaders have given verbal consent to allow failure, but when it actually happens, there have been consequences for the team that tried but did not succeed.
So how do we reconcile the need for allowing innovation, creativity and experimentation, but at the same time recognize that there are situations in which we absolutely must succeed? Find out in Part 2 of this Blog Post.