We all know that learning from mistakes is important, but we learn from a very early age that we must get things 'right'. We all take part in the 'blame game' which causes distress whenever we get something 'wrong'. Dr Amy Edmondson, a Professor at Harvard, developed the concept of 'psychological safety' where individuals or teams feel safe to speak up with ideas, concerns, questions, or mistakes so learning occurs.
Creating a climate where mistakes are celebrated is important. Amy Edmonson maintains that there is a range of reasons why failure might occur, including: deviance, lack of ability, inattention, uncertainty, task challenge, process inadequacy or complexity, hypothesis, or exploratory testing and most importantly, what Duke University Professor, Sim Sitkin, refers to as intelligent failures – which occur when experimentation is necessary. This is when new discoveries are made. Edmondson refers to Jonathan Haidt's writing about the related viewpoint diversity – where it is acceptable to hold a different viewpoint.
After researching what occurs in many systems and organisations, Amy Edmondson has written a book titled The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well in the hope that a paradigm shift or reframing occurs to create a climate of psychological safety, so individuals feel able to raise concerns and mistakes, to learn from these valuable experiences.
Sharing our evidence and reasoning – rather than emphatically stating 'sacred cows' as an absolute, immutable conclusion – can be particularly useful. Understanding our own thinking and being willing to share our reasoning is a critical aspect of psychological safety.
Aversion (emotional), confusion (cognitive) and fear (interpersonal) create difficulties and restrict psychological safety. Basic, complex, and intelligent failures are categories of failure whereas self-awareness, situation and awareness of systems are competencies that create psychological safety.
A thoughtful hypothesis can create a smart risk and builds a climate of healthy failure – whereas persistence (sometimes viewed as stubbornness), reflection, accountability and sincere apologies can be useful in creating intelligent failures and developing psychological safety.
© Michele Juratowitch
michele@clearingskies.com.au