Failing Forward: Seeing Problems as Opportunities

By Vicki Wrona, PMP:

We’re all familiar with setbacks or failure. If you don’t have any setbacks, then you’re not stretching yourself, are you? However, rather than putting the negative connotation that we tend to place on failing, let’s change our thoughts about it. There are some productive ways to approach setbacks to make them work for you.

In the book Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, Josh Linkner says to think about failure as an experiment. Each experiment that fails leads that person or organization to the perfect solution. He refers to this as Failing Forward. His view is that business leaders need to be tolerant of risk-taking and setbacks, and thinking of setbacks as Failing Forward helps to create a more supportive environment.

Another view is offered by Martha Beck, author and life coach. In a television commercial slot, she suggested that we see problems as feedback to find a better way. This allows our problems to be productive rather than destructive. If you look at problems as a foundation of good ideas, they become interesting rather than oppressive. Is something on your project not working? Now that you know one way it doesn’t work, use the feedback to modify the process. If you don’t like your current job, use the feedback to find a better calling or a more appropriate career.

True professionals are always trying to do things better, a little at a time. This philosophy is echoed in an approach called kaizen, which focuses on taking baby steps to continuously improve. Looking at setbacks as feedback in our ongoing adventure at work may help us in our quest for continuous improvement.

What have you done to help your teams see setbacks as feedback? What have you done to help them use that feedback to move on to something better?