Most executives I’ve spoken with believe that failure is terrible. They also feel that learning from it is simple: ask people to reflect on what went wrong and exhort them to avoid similar mistakes in the future, or, better yet, assign a team to review and create a report on what happened, which will then be distributed throughout the organization. These frequently held notions are inaccurate. First, failure isn’t always a terrible thing. In organizational life, it might be undesirable, unavoidable, or even beneficial. Second, learning from organizational mistakes is anything but easy. Most firms lack the attitudes and behaviors required to successfully detect and analyze mistakes, and the importance of context-specific learning tactics is underrated. Failure and fault are almost inextricably linked in most households, businesses, and cultures. Every youngster eventually learns that admitting failure entails accepting responsibility. That is why so few firms have adopted a culture of psychological safety, in which the benefits of learning from failure can be fully realized. In reality, a culture that encourages people to recognize and report failure may coexist with high performance requirements, and in some cases, it is required.
