If I had learned to challenge the fears I held inside, I might have known what I was capable of becoming.
This collective behavior, known as Psychological Danger, translates into the lack of a culture that accepts failure. We live in a society afraid to try, where transparent, healthy and effective communication is often unsuccessful. As a result, healthy work environments are threatened, limiting employee well-being, creativity and innovation.
After 10 years of hearing countless stories of failure, we are here to let you know: failure is essential for innovation, creativity and productivity to flourish.
This concept means that the organizational culture is comfortable and safe for interpersonal risk-taking. In other words,"being able to show up and work without fear of negative consequences to one's self-image, status or career." Teams working in these circumstances understand the importance of de-stigmatizing failure, sharing it and its positive impact on productivity.
Research shows that psychologically safe spaces allow high-performing teams to unleash their potential, making companies more agile , strategic and innovative. This leads to fuller, more productive teams and, as a result, happier individuals.
What most people fear is what others think of them. We constantly fear doing things, not for fear of not getting things done, but for fear of our reputation. If we change the way we perceive failure and the narrative surrounding it, we could become a much more creative and healthy society.
- Julio Salazar, co-founder of Fuckup Inc.
It is very difficult to learn from our experiences if we cannot admit that we did something wrong or that we could have done better. This reflection allows us to grow professionally and to lead by example.
Changing our perception of failure on an individual level means we can allow ourselves to be vulnerable, which in turn means we can be more transparent about our experiences, which can serve to learn and teach others. Ultimately, this will increase our sense of freedom and belonging, reducing barriers to trying new things.
"When a company fails, there are people who will lose their jobs or their money. And in the case of social or ecological enterprises, there are communities or ecosystems that will suffer the death of the project." What does it mean to fail with a conscience? It means being aware of the impact of closing that business, being aware of the lessons learned and being aware of the responsibility to share those learnings with the world"
- Leti Gasca, co-founder of Fuckup Inc.
One of the root causes of many problems in organizations, especially in public administrations, stems from their need to hide mistakes. For this reason, and many more, we need to remove the stigma surrounding failure. We are too accustomed to extolling our results and overlooking our mistakes throughout the process.
Being aware of our imperfections and challenges allows us to lay the groundwork for more realistic and strategic decision making. Defeating our egos is part of our core values at Fuckup Inc and is something we try to remember as much as possible.
Sometimes failure is a limitation for us, for society, for humanity; and since finding your limit has to do with limits, failure is a priceless tool.
- Julio Salazar, Co-Founder, Fuckup Inc.
In conclusion
Imagine how different things would be if people could come clean and learn from their mistakes. Decisions would be free of bias, ego and shame, and over time mistakes would be avoided altogether. This is just one part of our Failure Management workshops.
Are you ready to make failure work in your favor to catapult innovation, resilience, productivity and talent retention? Schedule a call and bring one of our workshops to your company.
Originally written by Julio Salazar and Ricardo Guerrero
Edited by
Raquel Rojas
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Let's transform our perception of failure and use it as a catalyst for growth.
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