Harvard Business Prof Amy Edmondson talks about the art of failing well. Discussion includes the complex failure at Boeing, dealing with failures, and the problem with 'move fast and break things'. Companies discussed: BA, LLY
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Quick takeaways
Psychological safety is crucial for fostering open communication and preventing failures in organizations.
Intelligent failures involve exploring new territories, taking calculated risks, and gathering insights for future success.
Deep dives
Creating a Culture of Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is crucial in organizations for fostering a workplace where individuals feel safe to speak up, share concerns, and prevent failures. Leaders should encourage open communication and recognize the importance of addressing uncertainty, human error, and system complexity. Policies like blame-free reporting can further support psychological safety and encourage individuals to report errors without fear of punishment.
Differentiating Intelligent Failures from Basic Failures
Intelligent failures are failures that occur when exploring new territories and pursuing challenging goals, where the necessary knowledge for success is not yet available. These failures involve doing thorough background work, taking calculated risks, and keeping the failures small to gather valuable insights for the next steps. On the other hand, basic failures are typically caused by simple human errors and should be consistently avoided through creating an environment where it is easier for individuals to do the right thing and harder to make avoidable mistakes.
Analyzing and Learning from Complex Failures
Complex failures are often the result of multiple factors that come together in unexpected ways, leading to unforeseen breakdowns. To address complex failures, it is important to conduct thorough analyses and understand the underlying causes rather than solely focusing on immediate fixes. By identifying the larger issues and designing systems that are less vulnerable to breakdowns, organizations can prevent similar failures in the future.
Deidre Woollard talked about the art of failing with Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, and author of “Right Kind of Wrong”. They discuss: