Failing Forward Step Five: WhySpecific tools for performing root-cause analysis can be applied to get past the symptom and focus on the disease. The root-cause analysis concept originated in manufacturing and is often referred to as “the five whys” because Toyota discovered that, on average, it took on average of five “whys” to get to the root cause. Read more
Failing Forward Step Four: Let Go and Move OnConscientious professionals always want to learn more, but the amount of useful knowledge that can be gleaned from revisiting the same ground over again diminishes after a certain point. Strong leaders know when to stop. It will be easier to move on if the analytical work of figuring out what happened and the follow-up work of changing whatever needs improvement are completed. Read more
Failing Forward Step Three: Take ActionThe next in our series (see below for links to previous posts) builds on the work entailed in Steps One and Two, and is demanding on many levels. Yet it is not worth doing unless the organization is prepared to follow through on the remaining steps. Read more
Failing Forward Step Two: Determine CausalityIn a continuation of a series on learning from failure (start from the beginning), the second step is to determine the underlying reason or reasons for the loss. This means going through the long list of events assembled in Step One and determining which actually caused the loss. Determining causality is not the same as conducting root-cause analysis. Read more
Failing Forward Step One: Find out what happenedIn a series of posts, I’m outlining how to learn from a loss. Read part 1, oulining why failure is an effective teacher. Today’s post, detailing step one, finding out what happened, may seem straightforward. In fact, it is an emotionally challenging and intellectually demanding task. The team must dispassionately review the entire history of the procurement. Read more
Failing forward, part 1No one wants to lose, and no one wants to talk about losing. It is like talking about death. But, failure can be an effective teacher. Many sales are losing sales—a statistical fact that is often ignored. However, this does not mean the participants are losers. Read more