Allowing ourselves to hit the wrong notes

Today I was preparing for an upcoming webinar where I am helping managers turn the latent potential of their teams into higher levels of performance. In doing some research for my presentation, I came across something I wrote for grad school. I wrote that leaders must create an environment where it is safe to try out new behaviors. If there is no safety, there is no development. People will make mistakes as they are learning and growing. Therefore, a leader must provide safe spaces in which to fail – and then learn. This is essential in helping others reach a place of mastery. If people do not feel safe they will not take the risk of trying something new or something outside their comfort zones. In the Knowing-Doing Gap by Pfeffer and Sutton, they give the example of Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. “Zander notes that it is only when the performer lifts his or her sights from simply not playing a wrong note to something more that beautiful music can occur. And it is only by risking hitting the wrong notes that learning results."

How, then, can we create a safe space for others -- and ourselves -- to hit the wrong notes once in awhile so that new learning can emerge? The following are a few ideas from the Knowing-Doing Gap:

• Treat failure to act as the only true failure; punish inaction, not unsuccessful actions.
  
• Encourage leaders to talk about their failures, especially what they have learned from them.
  
• Give people second chances.
  
• Banish people -- especially leaders -- who humiliate others.
  

In addition to these, I have a few additional ones:

• Create an environment where mistakes and missteps are discussed as a means of learning. With clients, I often set up weekly team meetings where the team can discuss their experience with trying out new behaviors. These are great learning events for the entire team.
  
• Help people extract the lesson from the mistake. This requires a little time to reflect. Too many people rush by the mistake and never learn from it. When this happens, we are doomed to keep repeating the mistake.
  
• Be a model for others. When the inevitable mistake occurs, acknowledge it, take ownership of it, fix it, and then model the process of reflecting on what you've learned. (Don't we all dislike the leader who makes a mistake and blames others?)

I particularly like the phrase in the above quote that "it is only when the performer lifts his or her sights from simply not playing a wrong note to something more that beautiful music can occur." Have you ever encountered anyone who excelled or created something innovative by merely not hitting the wrong notes?