McGee Communications

The Luxury of Failure
or How Did You Get So Creative?

“Why must this scene take place?”

This was a question asked by a teacher in an acting program I attended
(long ago, far away). The question served as the spark for a frequent
conversation that took place after actors in class performed a scene. That
conversation centered on two basic ideas:

What were the actors trying to say?
Did they say it?

Creativity is nurtured in an environment based on the premise that ideas
are taken at face value and evaluated on whether or not they achieve their
goal. Did they achieve what they set out to do? If so, great. If not, work
on it some more.

This approach works not because, as that worn aphorism goes, “all ideas
are good ideas.” The approach nurtures creativity because it allowed us to
fail.

For some, failure is an option that facilitates learning. A business
colleague recently stated his belief that “if you don’t fail often enough, you
aren’t trying hard enough.” In fact, in industries where R&D is all about
pushing the edge of the envelope, failure is expected much of the time
(just ask the pharmaceutical companies). Not all ideas are good ideas;
some just won’t work.

But we don’t always have the luxury of failure. Companies and careers are
often riding on critical decisions made every day. So how can the rest of
us help create an environment of sustained creativity?

They’ve figured it out at Pixar, the animation studio behind the movies
Wall-E and The Incredibles, among others. Here is a company that
expects risk; no, it encourages and apparently thrives on it. Failure can
cost a lot but, as a blogger at Fast Company pointed out, Pixar has
developed a culture of sustained creativity that generates hundreds of
ideas for every movie and can survive when failures occur. It didn’t
happen all at once but the approach appears to be working for them.

How do we take the Pixar model and nurture creativity in business? Here
are a few simple ideas:

Speak up – This is especially difficult in hard times where everyone
is worried about saying something awful that will be remembered at
evaluation time. If you don’t speak up, so the thought goes, you
won’t say something stupid. Yet it is particularly important during
difficult times to discuss and try out new ideas. Those in leadership
need to assure their colleagues that creative ideas are critical to
success. Let them know that it is the generation of ideas that will be
remembered during evaluations, not the silence. No one remembers
the ones who were quiet all the time. Not in a good way, anyway.

Reward the effort – Take a look at that presentation, proposal or
report sent for your review. Watch that video or speech. Listen
during the brainstorming. Before you pass judgment, first ask
“What are they trying to say?” then, “Did they say it?” From there
you can provide feedback and, as appropriate, build on or turn down
their ideas. But first reward the creativity by giving it due
consideration and judging its merits – not just dismissing it out of
hand.

Ask about what works elsewhere – Find out what worked for
people in formal classroom settings, other companies – in other
words, beyond your office’s walls. Compile a list of learning
experiences that had the most impact, then use them to see what
works.

Make it a habit – There is always so much talk about being creative
and approaching problems from a new angle, yet how are these
ideas put into practice? How do they become part of a company
culture? As David Brooks n oted in his New York Times column,
success isn’t a mystery. People wear the Master’s green sports
coat, write wonderful poems or bring their organization into the
black the same way they get to Carnegie Hall: practice, man, practice.

While it may be true that one person or one team alone may not be able
to change a corporate culture, people will emulate what works. If they see
that innovation and creativity is successful, they’ll want to know how it
was done.

Now go practice, man, practice.

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