Some of you may already know that I am a big fan of Lean Kata, probably one of the least understood – yet powerful – improvement approaches (not a tool, definitely not a tool) used by Toyota. Its lack of ‘popularity’ and uptake, especially in the UK, is a mystery to me and many others. So much so that I wrote a paper on why this might be the case recently (see the link below if you’re interested).
One of my ‘theories’ as to why this might be is that we have an inherent and cultural ‘fear of failure’. As a society we all too often scapegoat those who fail, we hide our own personal failings lest they portray us as weak or somehow inadequate, and we seldom use failure as a means to ‘learn’ as individuals or organisations. This is a real pity, as I believe that unless we reframe failure – as a means to learn and improve from mistakes – our progress in our organisations and society as a whole will be inhibited.
Let me share with you a couple of great books that have helped me come to this view. Neither of them, you will note, are ‘lean’ textbooks.
‘Black Box Thinking’ by Matthew Syed is a wonderful book. Written in an engaging style, very readable, and packed with lots of stories and testimonials to support his theory. Some of the medical related mistakes he describes (and the culture that then tries to sweep such errors under the carpet) in the early chapters of the book are both shocking and saddening. He concludes that many of the people who society see as successful people and organisations (James Dyson, David Beckham, Unilever) harness the power of rapid experiments, scientific thinking and deliberate practice based on the premise of learning from mistakes.
Syed speaks of the reluctance of leadership (especially in Western world) to encourage a culture of experimentation, as there is an abiding ‘fear of failure’. A desire to not lose face or admit mistakes, but to put ever more effort into reinforcing existing beliefs (‘cognitive dissonance’). That probably goes some way to explaining the reluctance to take up Kata. It’s just too experimental for some leaders.
Syed asserts that there are two components vital for a learning culture to flourish. A system, by which learning opportunities can be identified and captured; and a culture (or mindset), that encourages learning through failure and experimentation towards improvement, even if there are many cycles of this before the ultimate goal is achieved. He calls culture a ‘Growth Mindset’.
‘The Fifth Discipline’ by Peter Senge is very different book to ‘Black Box Thinking’ but no less powerful. Its not as easy to read, but my goodness, it is worth the effort. Talk about challenging.
Senge suggests that people are ‘hard-wired’ from an early age to never admit they don’t know the answer, and that corporations actively reinforce this lesson by rewarding people who most stridently advocate their own views, rather than taking time to inquire into complex problems. He says: “because we see the world in simple, obvious terms, we come to believe in simple, obvious solutions. This leads to the frenzied search for simple ‘fixes’”.
Senge also has some really interesting things to say about failure. He suggests: “Failure is, simply, a shortfall, evidence of the gap between vision and current reality. Failure is an opportunity for learning – about inaccurate pictures of current reality, about strategies that didn’t work as expected, about the clarity of the vision. Failures are not about our unworthiness or powerlessness.
Senge also quotes Ed Lander, founder and president of Polaroid, in what I think sums up exactly how I think we need to reframe failure:
“A mistake is an event, the full benefit of which has not yet been turned to your advantage!”
To become a true Learning Organisation we need to encourage and welcome failure as a platform for future success!
I’d love to hear your views