Rewarding Failures in Science and Academia

As risk-averse individuals, we tend to try to avoid failure at all costs. But failing is an essential part of learning. So, how can we get better at it? And how can organizations create psychological safety so employees are more willing to take chances, even if it may lead to failure? 

Amy Edmondson is a professor at Harvard Business School and studies psychological safety, organizational learning, and teaming. In her new book, Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, she guides readers through the art of failing. 

Amy and Greg discuss her psychological safety origin story, the taxonomy of failure, and the importance of learning how to fail right. 

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

What does psychological safety truly mean?

19:55: My least favorite misconception of what psychological safety is that it means a lack of accountability or a lack of high standards. It means anything goes, and we're just going to be soft and, you know, wrap everybody in bubble wrap. And it's not what it means. It means permission for candor, right? It means permission to take risks, and hopefully, most of those risks will be smart risks.

Errors and failures are rich territory for learning

07:51: You've got to learn, and you have to learn fast, and you have to keep learning—and errors and failures, which I do not believe are synonymous, are really rich territory for learning. Unfortunately, we don't often do it very well. There's a whole lot of room for improvement there.

Leadership doesn’t exist without fellowship

27:19: Leadership doesn't even exist without followership. So we've got to be as interested in what everyone does to co-create value. And some people are at higher levels of leadership than others, but we're all trying to create value for the customers. And we have an overemphasis on sort of the role of those at the top.

At what level can you safely try to change the culture?

25:49: We have this very deep instinct to pay attention to what's happening above us. And oftentimes, because we're a little judgmental, we will decide that what's happening above us is suboptimal, and they don't get it. And they're not doing their part to create a psychological safety or learning environment. And I say that may very well be true, and your responsibility is simply to take a look at what you can do. Look down or across instead of up.

Shifting the way you look at leadership

28:11: We need to think less about organizations and more about teams because organizations are just made up of teams, and if every team does its part, whether it's developing the strategy, deciding on acquisition, building a product, or designing tomorrow's products. Every team does its job in the most learning-oriented, ambitious way possible. Some of those activities will be pretty powerful.

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Carol Dweck
• Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Argyris 
• Charles Perrow

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Harvard University
• Professional Profile on Thinkers50
• Speaker Profile on Stern Strategy Group
• Amy C. Edmondson's Website
• Amy C. Edmondson on LinkedIn
• Amy C. Edmondson on Twitter
• Amy C. Edmondson on TEDxHGSE

Her Work:

• Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well 
• The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
• Workplace Conditions (Elements of Improving Quality and Safety in Healthcare) 
• Extreme Teaming: Lessons in Complex, Cross-Sector Leadership
• Building the Future: Big Teaming for Audacious Innovation
• Teaming to Innovate
• A Fuller Explanation: The Synergetic Geometry of R Buckminster Fuller
• Scholarly Articles 
• Articles on Harvard Business Review

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