Getting Past Failure

Image Source: Steven Depolo, Creative Commons

I recently participated in my first clinical trial. Fortunately I was in the healthy comparison group and not the afflicted group. While the trial was related to a cancer study, it was focused on the cognitive aspect of cancer and the immune system. I know, I know…. having me in the healthy cognitive group is amusing. However, it was a fascinating study.

During one section of the study that was looking at the ability to stay focused and concentrate even while being distracted, I was asked to watch the computer screen for long periods of time and quickly identify the direction of various arrows when they appeared on the screen while other information was also being displayed. The test itself was simple in nature but it was the instructions provided by the facilitator that fascinated me.

In preparing for the test she talked with me about handling failure. Because the arrows will quickly flash on the screen and I must indicate the direction of the arrow as quickly as possible, there will be times when I make a mistake. However, it was important that I put that mistake behind me and keep going. She explained the pattern they see when people make a mistake (which your brain realizes a split second after the arrow disappears) they will often make several mistakes in a row because they’re still upset about the one they missed. Interesting! This was not about life decisions or major corporate decision, it was simply hitting one key or another indicating the direction of an arrow. And yet, they could clearly see a pattern that when we make a mistake the guilt (horror, worry, embarrassment, or whatever) can often linger and result in several mistakes just because we didn’t quickly get past it.

We all make mistakes: individuals, teams, corporations… The trick is to not let failure lead to several others just because we didn’t get it behind us quickly enough.

So what causes these lingering affects? Several possibilities come to mind:

• Silence – not acknowledging or talking about a mistake (again, either individually or in a team) can cause the additional mistake syndrome
• Pride – not willing to admit our mistakes will also cause the escalation of further mistakes
• Lake of Patience – an atmosphere where mistakes are not tolerated will actually exacerbate the environment of continued mistakes
• Subsequent punishment of mistakes – Often mistakes or even legitimate decisions don’t turn out to be correct in the end. However, when people are punished later for decisions that turn out bad, it creates an atmosphere of low risk and very low accountability. (This is an interesting one that will probably need to be addressed later as its own topic!)

How are you at getting past failure quickly? Talk about this with your team. I believe you will discover that because you’re not putting legitimate mistakes behind you quickly you are creating additional mistakes and a risk averse, low accountability culture that is not serving you in these times of rapid change.