Have you ever caught yourself telling your team “failure is not an option”?
Made famous in the movie “Apollo 13”, the Flight Director was communicating that if they failed to bring the astronauts home they would die. So failure was not an option.
In a fit to be motivational I have heard leaders use this phrase often. However, I have also seen “failure is not an option” have unintended consequences inside leadership and their teams.
Let me share why rethinking our relationship with failure is the key to unlocking your team’s potential.
Firstly, Context Matters
While this statement perhaps served its purpose when lives were at stake, applying it broadly in business and leadership settings, where life is not on the line, can be highly counterproductive. We create a space where our teams learn to fear failure – and ultimately fear taking any risk at all.
The Hidden Cost of Fearing Failure – Risk Tolerance
As leaders, when we declare that failure isn’t acceptable, we don’t motivate our teams to succeed. Instead, we often create environments where people are afraid to take risks. This fear-based approach stifles innovation and creativity – the very elements businesses need to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.
Missing The Learning Opportunities
The truth is, humans learn through failure. Our most significant growth often comes from our most challenging experiences. When we create spaces where failure is taboo, we deprive our teams of valuable learning opportunities.
Reframing Failure as Feedback
What if, instead of fearing failure, we embraced it as a stepping stone to success? What if we reframed failure as feedback – information that helps us adjust our approach and improve?
Creating Safe Spaces for Innovation
This doesn’t mean we should be careless or reckless. In certain situations – like the Apollo 13 mission – precision is critical. But in many business contexts, creating safe spaces for experimentation can lead to breakthrough innovations.
Taking Action: Your “Innovation Space”
Consider implementing an “innovation space” in your organization – a designated environment where team members can propose and test new ideas without fear of repercussion. Set boundaries to protect clients and business interests, but allow room for creative risk-taking.
Cultivating a Learning Culture
By shifting our perspective on failure, we create a culture where people feel empowered to think outside the box, and where mistakes become valuable learning experiences rather than career-ending disasters.
Remember that even NASA learned invaluable lessons from the Apollo 13 mission – lessons that undoubtedly improved future missions. The question isn’t whether we’ll encounter failures, but how we’ll respond when we do.
Will you create a culture that fears failure, or one that learns from it?
Monday Myth Check is a weekly dose of reality where Jono Brake holds up commonly held leadership beliefs and ask the question “What if this was not true”. You can find the weekly video on LinkedIN as well as on Youtube @jonobrake
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