Post Crescent:
Things that organizations can do to learn from failure:
* Accept that failure is a normal result of work, and comes from taking risks.
* Provide an atmosphere where people do not need to live in fear of failure.
* Create a culture where true learning can happen. Negative information still is valuable information.
* Review all projects, and open them up for analysis by the project team and by others within the company.
* Encourage constructive dissent and debate of ideas so that faulty ideas can be challenged.
* Ask the tough questions. Challenge assumptions rather than blindly accepting tradition.
* Document the learnings so that the same mistakes can be prevented.
* Recognize that multiple factors can contribute to large scale organizational failures, and foster a culture that is accountability-based rather than being blame based.
Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, once said, ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ Individually, and as organizations, it is important to think about, and talk about failure and the role it plays in our lives, and if that can be an open and honest process, my belief is that it will truly open the door to the type of learning that enhances innovation and higher levels of performance.
Subscribe 
