Improvisers often say “Celebrate failure.”
They’re pointing at a worthy problem, but proposing the wrong solution.
Many people hold back when the perceived cost of getting something wrong is high.
If we’re worried about looking foolish, wasting time or making mistakes, we grow cautious. We contribute less, experiment less, stay with what’s comfortable.
Improvisers recognised this years ago, and so some encouraged people to applaud mistakes and celebrate failure. The generous intention is to reduce the fear of failure, and then people will be more willing to have a go.
The aim is right, but the slogan leads us to unwanted consequences – first in workshops, then more widely. Once we make failure the focus, our attention follows.
People are sensitised to mistakes, and look for failures to celebrate or recover or learn from. We direct attention to what went wrong, even when our real interest is discovering – and increasing – what goes well.
Play reduces the stakes; and when consequences matter less, it’s easier to experiment. More experimentation creates more variation, including information that tells us what to leave behind. And more importantly, revealing what’s worth repeating.
Think about a child building a tower from wooden blocks. The tower collapses several times. It’s fun until it becomes frustrating or an exercise in destruction. Meanwhile, the child is discovering which arrangements stay standing.
Experienced improvisers don’t become skilful because they’ve accumulated the most failures. They advance by growing increasingly sensitive to the beats that work, and creating more of them. Likewise in coaching, leadership, teaching and organisational change. Instead of glorifying failure, let’s make playful environments safe enough for exploring, and turn our attention to successful adaptation.
If you’d like to discuss how we can help strengthen your facilitation practice, team collaboration or workshop design, book an exploratory conversation here:
https://calendly.com/paulzjackson/30min
Best wishes
Paul & the team
