A Thoughtful Failure Isn't Bad

I heard this quote from a speaker talking to a group of business leaders in Detroit. “People will tolerate your conclusions and act on their own. If you have a culture of “change of the month” they will not take your new changes seriously.” This really hit home. All businesses have to change and adapt to the new market forces that are affecting the economy right now. As the old adage goes you should “measure twice and cut once.” Some business are moving fast, making solid quick changes to position their business to be successful while others are keeping their head in the sand and changing nothing. One would think that not changing is the worst thing you could do. However, this speaker felt that changing too quickly and too often was actually worst. There is an important balance one must strike.

When I think of change I think of “thoughtful failure.” Hopefully, the change is thought out, planned, discussed and then once implemented watched for its results. If it is a failure you can mark this up as a “thoughtful failure” as you tried something new to gain a new result.  If the results were not what you were hoping for you go back to the drawing board to get better. This is part of the PDCA loop or Plan, Do, Check, Adjust (productive loop) that many learn about.

Thoughtful failure is good.  Given the choice I am sure we all would prefer not to fail but this isn't realistic.  If you are pushing yourself and your company you can expect failures.  That is part of the growing process.  I have heard some people say "if you aren't failing you aren't trying hard enough."  This is how we learn and improve over time.  In this economy everyone is making adjustments whether it be with personal or business operations. Don’t be afraid of making a change. Just make sure you have thought about it, studied it, and know what your desired outcome is from this change and then take the time to review the results. A thoughtful failure can be one of the most important growing experiences for us personally and as a business. In business, be careful your “change culture” is not too excessive.

Comments

[Kevin Thompson]

Great article, Bob! I see a lot of you in this article...checking for metrics to measure progress, adjusting accordingly, always improving. Keep it up.

[John Dickinson]

Robert,

I have experienced changing too frequently before. I didn't know it at the time, but changing the direction every 2 or 3 months doesn't give enough time for the results to be measured. When change happens, we need to give it enough time to see if it is working or not.

For example, someone decides to start saving 10% of their income to build a big nest egg. Then they look at their savings balance after 2 or 3 months and shout "I don't have enough money in there right now! I am going to stop saving money!". This is an extreme example, but many people operate all areas of their lives this way.

Thanks for the phrase "thoughtful failure"1
John