How to celebrate learning in our work environments?
Organizations or leaders forget to recognize the right things, and failure is generally considered a negative aspect that we all tend to avoid for fear of punishment or scolding. It seems that experimentation is out of the equation for success.
Seven psychological factors feed the fear of failure*, 1) the need for approval, 2) not adjusting expectations, 3) excessive self-criticism, 4) low tolerance for frustration, 5) focusing only on results, 6) low self-confidence, and 7) perfectionism.
Both in the family environment and work teams, there is a fear of failure. Remember that the word is associated with negative aspects (irreparable, unforgivable, punishable, etc.). The desire to avoid it could paralyze us to do something or experiment with doing things again or differently.
When our daughters were babies, we discovered that they had more openness when experimenting. There were no limits; there was no concept of error or fear of being wrong. They could be with their shoes or clothes backward without any significant problem. The feeling of feeling proud of having achieved put them alone. The same thing happened if a new toy arrived until a simple cardboard box was re-discovered that, although one day it was a house, another a cradle, or even an airplane. Memorable events such as touching the grass or the sea for the first time were reason enough to learn from the world and entertain themselves for hours.
As they grew older, we also discovered that they began to have less tolerance for error when things did not go as expected or wanted. Hence, the time of scandalous crying began for minutes until they achieved their mission. We managed to distract them with something else, or on some occasions, the exhaustion of the same tantrum left us exhausted, and they ended up sleeping.
It has been complicated for us as humans to teach them that making mistakes is not all bad. The reason is straightforward; we had an education based on the fear of failure; the question arose for me, failure and error are not only to punish, and what can be a good opportunity?.
This journey has taught us that we have to learn to do things differently to have a full and happy life throughout these years.
Celebrating failure as a learning opportunity, trying not to demand perfection in the activities that they are passionate about, or as simple as teaching them that. If something doesn’t go right the first time, they can always try again. It is something that has. It was challenging to instill in them because, as parents, we are terrified to make mistakes and, therefore, fail them.
Within our organizations, there is little space to experiment and fail. We are immersing in solving problems on a day-to-day basis. An error or failure can have more significant consequences than if we allow error or loss at home. We have forgotten that in our work environments, we can also learn from mistakes.
There is a dynamic called Celebration grids. We can celebrate experimentation and failure from an elementary matrix divided into quadrants, without the need to punish, admonish, or repress people. Part of a collective reflection, which little by little leads us to the conversation: What did we learn from error? How can this experiment make it successful? How to know to get rid of those unsuccessful attempts without so much pain? How do we make that experiment good practice? And finally, what must we change so that this good practice does not become an error in these circumstances?
If you want to know more about this practice, she invited you to download the Celebration Grid template from the Management 3.0 site https://management30.com/practice/celebration-grids/.
As a union leader, some considerations within the workplace are that I decided to implement this practice after giving feedback on the 360 semi-annual evaluation results to know the team’s position on the improvement attempts we have made from the beginning of this year.
A few months ago, I discovered that the team responds best when the leaders improve the team’s needs. So the way to implement it was by convening a meeting of the entire team, after the Q3 closing event, as an exercise that serves as a reflection, to promote that safe space, where erring and experimenting are the foundations of innovation and reinventing the team.
Before the session with the team, I created a board in Miro. I leave the Celebration Grid canvas and the flipchart generated at the beginning of the year (where we exposed all the problems that we had identified). In the beginning, I explained that the objective was to reflect on the events that occurred in the team during the year to differentiate whether they were errors, acceptable practices, or experiments. And collectively determine if they were successful or not and the learning that we take about it and prepare our next experiments.
Each one wrote on several post-its and arranged it in a space where they considered it best fit. At the end of that first categorization, we began to discuss why they thought it in that quadrant.
As a team, we learned that not every mistake ends in something terrible. Even if the process was painful, in the end, it ended up becoming a good practice. We can celebrate error and failure as an opportunity to learn and that we should not associate it with something that should be punished or repressed.
I think it is a good start, which allows us to reflect together and gives us the necessary impetus to continue improving as a team.
In the search for more answers, we found eight keys to overcoming the fear of failure, according to the psychologist Beatriz Piñas: First, have realistic and achievable goals. Second, see failure as a learning opportunity. Third, there is no failure if you have tried. Fourth, do not rejoice in your mistakes. Five, do not say, “I can not.” Sixtieth, no demanding a perfect result. Seventh, the important thing is not to do everything right the first time. Finally, eighth, not to achieve something as you expected is not to fail to do things differently to obtain different results.
One of the adjustments that I would make the next time we do the practice is to have some post-its ready with the experiments declared to see if it worked. I would also extend the dynamics 15 more minutes so that a team member would be the one to close with the new experiments' declaration.
In this way, it will help us in our goal of embracing the idea of experimenting, daring to do things differently, and allowing ourselves to make mistakes as part of a learning process, finally reminding them that failure can be the beginning of success. And I would do a retrospective, how those experiments that we have allowed ourselves as a team have changed category within the board.
In general, we had a moment of reflection and a safe space to accept mistakes without bothering us or recriminating ourselves, as well as a time where we had fun and learned to value those things that we have done well, such as continuing to have one-on-one sessions with him feedback canvas or trusting the team that made up the Design System, among many others.
I invite you to implement this practice in your workspace with your team, to celebrate experimentation, and generate actions to turn failures into learning and an opportunity to improve.
I also advise you to create a safe space for experimentation and tolerance to failure. It manages to create stronger connections or bonds between people. Knowing that your circle of trust will always be there, even if you fail, will give them the self-confidence to overcome the fear of failure and turn it into an opportunity to learn.
* Miedo al fracaso. Factores psicológicos, CLAVES PARA COMPRENDER Y SUPERAR EL MIEDO A FRACASAR, Beatriz Piñas https://www.areahumana.es/miedo-al-fracaso/)
