A Texas oil billionaire was once interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked him how he became so succesful. The billionaire smiled and said, “Just two words, good decisions.” The reporter further probed, “Sir, tell me, how did you get to making those good decisions.” The billionaire paused, stared hard and replied, “Just two more words, bad decisions.”
True success for individuals and organisations comes from failure. If all of us are given the “freedom to fail” then we most definitely are in the pathway to success. Most people are so preoccupied with success, that mistakes are dealt with harshly and severely. This “zero tolerance for mistake” culture prevailing in organisations has unconsciously developed amongst the people, an overwhelming fear of failure.
When people are afraid to fail, they stop experimenting, as a result innovation and learning, take a back seat. Over time, these individuals and organisations would stop developing new capabilities, gradually they become less competitive in the marketplace. Take the case of 3M, a company originally started, to make sand paper has now evolved into a company with more than 20 billion dollars in annual sales, and with thousands of product lines, from adhesives to optical film. To understand their success, one must look at their culture. A former president of this company, William L McKnight reiterated their philosophy when he wrote, ”Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative.” 3M, incidently is a company that does not stigmatise failure or mistakes, in fact, they have introduced a concept called the fifteen percent rule, which allows their employees to use that percentage of their time to generate ideas totally unconnected with their official work. This has largely contributed to the company’s success. In fact many patents, including the hugely successful post-it -notes, have been a result of this programme.
How do we react to failure?
Mistakes should be treated as a learning opportunity. Teach people not to be embarrassed by failure. In short, destigmatise failure, replace it with a new word like experience. Do a root cause analysis. See where you went wrong, analyse, and never repeat a mistake. It’s a feedback, so use it constructively. Always be planned. Remember failing to plan, is planning to fail, and further planning helps you stay in control and course correct if necessary. Always admit your mistake and never try to cover it up. If you make mistake, that can be attributed to carelessness, and that is alright, but if you try to cover up, then it becomes a serious integrity issue, and that wouldn’t be acceptable.
R A Nadesan is an executive coach, behavioural and soft skills trainer with a pan India presence. He can be reached at ranadesan@yahoo.co.uk