{"id":7655,"date":"2022-05-12T11:16:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T10:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/impro.org.uk\/?p=7655"},"modified":"2022-11-16T14:34:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T14:34:13","slug":"the-clovis-quadrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/impro.org.uk\/the-clovis-quadrant\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clovis Quadrant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"reader-article-content reader-article-content--content-blocks\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">In\u00a0<em>Veep<\/em>\u00a0series 3, Vice-President Selina is handed a smart watch as a gift from Clovis, a big\u00a0googly internet company. It doesn\u2019t work. The chief executive steps in to smooth it over:\u00a0&#8216;Ah, we have a saying here: Dare to Fail\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">Selina: \u2018Well, that\u2019s a job well done.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">Let\u2019s explore four possible sequences (or quadrants, if you\u2019re a fan of classic consultant 2&#215;2 matrices) and see what they might suggest to us about success and failure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">\u00a0Our four categories are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Failure followed by success<\/li>\n<li>Failure followed by failure<\/li>\n<li>Success followed by success<\/li>\n<li>Success followed by failure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">Starting with &#8216;Failure followed by success&#8217;, we enter the Clovis Quadrant, the one that inspires the \u2018failure fetish\u2019 &#8211; you know, \u2018embrace failure\u2019, \u2018fail forward\u2019, \u2018fail more often\u2019. This quadrant represents the claim that failure sometimes comes before a corresponding success. The claim has some merit, and it\u2019s mildly interesting, in that it often takes a few attempts before something difficult is achieved.\u00a0What\u2019s worth saying about this quadrant is mostly covered by the old adage, &#8216;If at first you don\u2019t succeed, try again.\u2019 Even that injunction is subject to the success being worth aspiring to &#8211; a working watch, say. And only if you manage to learn as you go, by not repeating the mistakes. If you\u2019ve failed at first, you need to do something different to find a way to make the watch work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">You may encounter a more extreme version of this perspective, in which the adherents tell us that this is the\u00a0<em>only<\/em>\u00a0quadrant \u2013 in other words, that success is always preceded by failure, and failure always leads to success. Neither sequence stands up to scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">Sadly failures are not always followed by a corresponding success. It would be lovely if it were true. But it\u2019s not, which is why the \u2018failure followed by failure\u2019 quadrant is rarely mentioned or addressed by the celebration-of-failure brigade. Most failure simply stays that way, and is so commonplace it\u2019s not remarked upon. The natural response to the contents of this box is more likely to be sympathy than celebration. The associated stories are largely depressing and uninstructive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">The stories the \u2018failure celebrators\u2019 tell are selected exclusively from the &#8216;failure to success\u2019 bag. They consign to the bin any mention of &#8216;failure to ultimate failure\u2019 (along with \u2018success first time\u2019). There\u2019s simply less to say when success happens on its own without the dramatic and inspiring shift from failure first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">What of the popular idea (sometimes stated, sometimes implied) that \u2018There\u2019s no success without failure first\u2019. Again, a moment\u2019s thought reveals it as false to say there\u2019s no success without a preceding failure. We get lots of things right first time. Today I uploaded a new app, followed the instructions and succeeded in getting it to work. I\u2019d learned something, done something new, with no failure or mistakes along the way. It\u2019s not that exciting, but it often happens.\u00a0And unless you feel that\u2019s an unwelcome process, we can\u2019t uncritically embrace a &#8216;Fail more\u2019 stance. Sure, there are some circumstances in which I want to take a chance, including owning the risk that I might make mistakes along the way &#8211; I often do. But in general I have a preference for faster success and for fewer failures per accomplishment. I\u2019d call that Embracing Success rather than Embracing Failure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">Moreover, a success is often built on previous success. This is a neglected quadrant, and tends to be especially under-rated if we give our (limited) attention to failure, rather than exploring success. Success breeds success. We can learn repeatable recipes, and re-apply what works from one domain to another, given enough similarity in the challenges, and with a dash of improvisational creativity when the difference between domains demands it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">And finally, Success is sometimes followed by failure. True, too. Hence reminders to &#8216;Sharpen the saw&#8217;. Stay alert. Keep learning. Keep testing for improvements if we want it to be better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"reader-text-block__paragraph\">Or is success perhaps always followed by failure? Well, yes, eventually, as the entropic universe reaches heat death. Meanwhile, no! Success can last long enough to see us through, and it\u2019s worth maintaining.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What do you already know about success and failure? <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s explore four possible sequences&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[35,50],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Clovis Quadrant - Paul Jackson Associates Ltd &amp; The Improvisation Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/impro.org.uk\/the-clovis-quadrant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Clovis Quadrant - Paul Jackson Associates Ltd &amp; The Improvisation Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do you already know about success and failure?   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