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Failure is a simple concept, but often dubious. Contrary to what we are commonly taught at school and in similar contexts, failure doesn’t necessarily mean retrogression. Rather, it can be an excellent stepping-stone to success and an inevitable part of innovation.

Its’ a fact – the fear of failing limits our ideas as well as our ability to do great things, start great businesses or develop great projects. That’s why a risk or failure culture is more important than ever in today’s world. The premise is simple: failing constantly doesn’t mean you are a failure, but rather that you are permanently active and looking to move forward. This culture is also more or less present depending on each country or community. There are fewer conservative countries that nowadays nurture a culture of risk in their business world, such as the United States. Proof of that is the famous stories of great names in the business world who failed before reaching the ultimate success. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs are just some examples of men who didn’t get it right the first time but today have the biggest fortunes in the world.

 

In this sense, it’s crucial to start looking at failure more naturally and embrace it so that there is room to take chances and innovate. We see that companies, in general, are not naturally prepared to fail – they remain stuck with fear, which, opposite to what one might teach us, it’s quite a dangerous path in the business world. Therefore, it’s important to learn how to bounce back from failure early on (in life and in the corporate world) as this will help be prepared for any obstacles along the way.

 

However, on the other hand, there are companies all over the world that are already starting to be more awake to this type of culture and are even looking for employees whose curriculum reflects both failure and success. These companies usually encourage a risk culture oriented towards a growth mindset, which allows employees not to be afraid to be creative and embrace mistakes as part of the growth process. This means that failure is interpreted as an opportunity to learn and improve, negative feedbacks are seen as development opportunities, challenges are motivating and all efforts are victories, there is a focus on continuous growth, risks are interpreted as the path to innovation and there is a team spirit where the victories of one are the victories of all. Thus, these companies can more easily adapt their businesses to the transformations of the contemporary world, encourage the evolution of their teams and naturally present higher levels of involvement, motivation, and creativity.

 

But how can we promote an organizational culture focused on a growth mindset?

 

 

1 | But how can we promote an organizational culture focused on a growth mindset?

As mentioned before, traditional education taught us not to accept mistakes willingly, but to condemn them. Therefore, we must start changing the mentality of those who lead teams, teaching managers a new way of looking at risk so that they can pass on these values to their teams. Leaders must set an example and allow employees to experience failure and learn from their mistakes.

 

 

2 | Promoting upskilling and reskilling

For the growth mindset to become embedded in the company’s culture, employees need to get out of their comfort zone and be tempted to try new skills. Training employees on how to play different roles within the company helps foster empathy and encourages the engagement with the organization.

 

 

3 | Encouraging a culture of feedback

Giving feedback is a way of showing how to improve performance. Thus, it’s beneficial for teams to embrace the habit of constantly give and receive feedback as a way of recognizing strengths and achievements and points to improve that hinder individual and collective performance.

 

 

Overall, when a company promotes a positive culture with a positive vision and encourages failure associated with growth, employees feel more able to overcome challenges. As a result, it creates space for more creative teams and employees who are more committed to the company’s growth. That said, fostering a risk culture with a focus in a growth mindset will make employees feel more motivated and ambitious to achieve big goals and, in this sense, companies will perform better.