19.06.2023
Crossing HR Borders - You want more success? Fail more!
'Don't think outside the box, think outside your industry.' For a lot of HR problems today, a different domain has already solved that challenge. It can be very inspiring to cross some borders to gain new insights. And we're not talking about just crossing country borders, but also the borders of your discipline, industry or other unexpected resources. These insights can lead to specific solutions of the challenges that you're facing today.
Explore these examples in this monthly 'Crossing HR Borders' series.
Mentally, we are used to focusing on error and failure prevention when we should actually let go of this focus and start learning from our mistakes.
For true innovation, the ability to let go is just as important as thinking of the new.
Sometimes it is better to start doing something and discover you're on the wrong path instead of doing nothing. At least you've learned what isn't the right path!
Let's have a look at some creative and inspiring examples on how failure leads to more success!
• Fuckup Nights is a global movement to share stories of business and professional failure. It is powered by an event series in 250 cities of 80 countries. Since it began a few years ago, the initiators of the Fuckup Nights have started a research arm called 'the Failure Institute', to do research on all the cases shared at the Fuckup Nights to help decision makers make better decisions.
>>> Is there or can you make room inside your organisation for (more) failure and learning from them?
• What often holds us back from taking action is fear — fear that it will be the “wrong” decision, fear that you don’t have enough information, fear of repercussions if you screw it up. But here’s the thing: Leaders in companies undergoing transformation (and what company isn’t right now?) can’t afford to take weeks to make an important decision.
Leaders who embrace innovative action give team members permission to do the same — to make rapid decisions without being afraid of missteps.
That's why Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said: “We aim to make mistakes faster than anyone else,”
He knows that it's up to Spotify executives to continue to demonstrate innovative action and encourage the trait in those below them.
>>> How can your company speed up in making mistakes (and learn from them)?
• Ever heard of a 'nearling'?
A nearling is a positive word for something new that was done with the right intentions, which has not (yet) led to the right result.
On a binary scale, the nearling is situated between zero and on, between failure and success. You only recognise it in retrospect.
The nearling emphasises that initiatives are almost always valuable, even if they don't lead immediately to the desired result. They may be the result of an experiment gone awry, or something unexpected, yet something has been learned from it.
Take the situation where a kid is learning to ride a bike. At a certain moment, there's a good chance that the kid will fall, but in the end, he'll learn to ride.
Check out many more examples on https://www.nearling.com/
>>> What have been nearlings to you or your company? And which lessons and results came out of these?
• Corporate Rebels are on a mission to make work more fun.
One of their statements is: Create a playground!
A context where people can experiment with small changes in a safe environment. Give them the freedom to take decisions within certain limits and discuss the results and the process.
Moreover, celebrate the mistakes and create a failure ceremony!
Celebrate the mistakes with a round of applause or preferably with beer and champagne:
* encourage the most senior leader in the room to admit his or her nearling to start with
* make sure you can create a truly safe environment. If at any time any sanctions are made, trust will vanish instantly.
* create a prize for the best failure.
>>> Are you willing (and planning) a failure ceremony in your company? How would it look like?
'Crossing HR Borders' is the result of a co-creation between Marc Heleven - Innovation researcher and Cyriel Kortleven - Global speaker on the Change Mindset.
These articles were first published in the Flemish HR Magazine ZigZag.
More info: www.cyrielkortleven.com