Why Encouraging Failure Is The Way to Go

Mom Meaghan: It's totally normal to try and fail a bunch of times before you succeed or get good at something. And sometimes, it just doesn't work.

Work Meaghan: Gotta make it work or I'm gonna be in huuuuuge trouble come annual review time.

I recently listened to a great episode of WorkLife with Adam Grant called "How to Rethink a Bad Decision." He dives into why we (humans) have such a hard time changing course once we make a decision or a commitment.

It's about more than "sunk cost theory" — there's a psychological trap called "escalation of commitment." If we don't have the self-awareness to see it, we can stick with a project for FAR too long.

A big problem with that is that we don't normalize failure at work. Except in baseball. In baseball you're GREAT at your job if you hit 3 out of every 10 balls pitched your way.

As a mom, I work really hard to encourage TRYING more than I reward results. Because showing up when you don't know if you'll succeed…that is hard.

Want to see that in action? Check out the moms of Dick's Sporting Goods in their Mother's Day 2021 promo.

[True aside I cannot in good conscience leave out here: when we had JUST gotten internet at my house, my brother was super excited to look at new basketball gear. So he went to www.dicks.com, and got QUITE the surprise.]

As my kiddo gets older, I want him to have a healthy relationship with hard work. To know that life is a lot like the scientific method (make a hypothesis, test it, watch it fail, adjust it, test again, etc, and so on). And sometimes you just can't make the theory work.

In most companies and work scenarios (or relationships), we sell the idea of results. We sell THE BEST ROI, or GUARANTEED RESULTS, or a PERFECT THING YOU COULDN'T HAVE IMAGINED ALONE.

We brush under the carpet all the work, testing, and failing that gets you from idea to result.

And, more problematically, we don't give up on an idea that isn't working because we're afraid to look like failures. Which costs us time, money, and the opportunity to move on to something that COULD actually work.

When the SYSTEM rewards the money you save the company when you bail out early instead of beating a (proverbial) dead horse, that changes everything. People don't feel the need to posture or save face, they can focus on the things that have the most potential to move the company (or team or client) forward.

Does your system reward a "win at all costs" mentality (which probably means wasted time, effort, and a degradation of your culture)? Or, should your system reward objective assessment and making the right call for the company over egos?