In the Backbeat column, SapientNitro ‘s Indranil Mukherjee talks about the importance of creating a culture that is tolerant of failure as without that there’s little chance of being able to disrupt things.
BY INDRANIL MUKHERJEE
VP & Lead- Global Technology Transformation, SapientNitro
I remember the first time I thought seriously about a culture that’s tolerant of failures was when I was at one of my previous organizations. I was new to this place and as I was walking around my bay one day, I came across a number of ‘motivational posters’, one of which screamed ‘FAIL FAST. FAIL OFTEN. SUCCEED FASTER!!’. It was probably just before this phrase went viral around the Internet and I remember that my instant reaction was: does this place have the culture to handle failures gracefully? A few quarters later I had learnt that it didn’t. There was a lot of chatter about innovation and doing things differently but failure was a strict ‘no-no’. I remember finding it mildly amusing when someone asked me why nothing new ever got done. People were afraid of failing. Hence they always played safe and didn’t attempt anything that resembled an experiment – nothing new got done as a result.
Corporate environments are hard places and there is not a lot of room for failure. However, environments that do not distinguish between ‘good failures’ from bad ones, stifle experimentation and creativity to an extent that very little innovation actually happens. And, it has everything to do with the culture. Not too long ago, I remember reading an article about the state of Digital in Europe. Europe, the article claimed, was in a state of Digital Recession and one of the main reasons was that it had not really inculcated a culture that tolerated risks and failure. The insinuation was that the culture was one that discouraged entrepreneurship, which the author claimed was critical for moving up the digital maturity curve in the Internet age. Whether it is correct or not is a different question, what resonated with me was the claim that being able to handle failures (gracefully, if I may add) was key to fuelling experimentation, innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital disruption. Every organization, including the current one I work in, puts a premium on freethinking, curiosity and the ability to challenge the status quo. In our case, we like to believe that we create the right environment for troublemakers to flourish. We believe in ‘enabling the potential’ of these troublemakers and create an open culture that promotes learning and creation, even if it means not playing safe. As I had read in another of those posters – “To us, never putting a wrong foot forward is in fact a step backward”. We want our troublemakers to come up with a lot of ideas, knowing fully well that many of those will fail, when implemented.
How we view failures is often significantly shaped by the society we are part of. Some do a better job than others. Several years ago, as I was trying to hire and fill a key leadership role on my team, we were presented with a profile of a gentleman who had changed 3 jobs in the past 5 years in the Silicon Valley. I remember my head of HR expressing his concerns about the person because ‘he hasn’t stuck anywhere for long’. A valid point, as we do value continuity and longevity of relationships as a society. We called the person in for a chat, because a bunch of us found his skills and background extremely interesting. When he was asked about the frequent changes, his answer really intrigued me. The gentleman desperately wanted to be part of a major disruption and was trying to get to a place that would disrupt the market it operated in. However, 3 of the first 4 places he landed up in failed, and he, with them. He just picked up the pieces and went in search for the next one. He finally found success in the 4th place and never in that process was he quizzed about the reasons for his previous short stints. People in that eco-system inherently understood what experimentation, failures and ultimate success were all about.
So, whether you encourage (and even let) your people fail early, fast or whatever adjective is the flavor of the month, the important thing is to create a culture that is tolerant of failure. Without that there’s little chance of being able to disrupt things. I was once quite alarmed when one of my team leaders said “we need to create a culture that embraces failure”. I was not quite there myself. I didn’t want to fail. I just needed to know that any path to success would most likely be riddled with failures. Being able to handle them gracefully was the key. The hugging part - purely optional.
@ FEEDBACK
imukherjee@sapient.com
