Small change: forgive human error

“Embrace failure” has become something of a maxim in many organisations. The reality is that many of those organisations are great at embracing failure right up until the moment they fail — at which point they embrace blame.

Failure is an inevitable part of trying to do anything new. This is because in such circumstances we might lack the skills, the confidence and/or the experience to get it right. As the philosopher Musashi said: “everything is difficult at first”.

Faced with failure, the best thing to do is examine intent. Was the individual or team concerned trying to get it right? If so, it might be wise to let it go, with lessons banked for next time. If the failure in question represents a catastrophe, look to yourself and ask: how did I enable a situation in which this was a potential outcome? What is that telling me how I need to protect my people and my business?

Something to consider: what’s the real story behind the failure we’ve experienced?

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