Embracing the Failures (Even the Most Disastrous Ones)

We all make mistakes; it’s a natural part of being human. What sets successful companies apart is their ability to learn from these mistakes and share that knowledge across the organization. Unfortunately, in the corporate world, hierarchies and egos can sometimes hinder this process, making it difficult to embrace a culture of learning and improvement. In some cases, mistakes can even lead to employees being punished or losing their jobs.

However, we have the power to turn these mistakes into opportunities for growth and development. By embracing a culture of learning and continuous improvement, we can create an environment where mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn, grow, and innovate.

This chapter explores how to create a culture of learning within your engineering team. Let’s get started right away.

Fostering a Culture of Psychological Safety

Pixar, an animation studio is known for its focus on creativity and innovation, Netflix, a widely popular streaming service and Warby Parker, an eyewear company known for its trendy designs and socially conscious values have in common is their culture of psychological safety by encouraging employees to speak up and share their ideas.

Pixar has a tradition of holding “plussing” sessions where employees are encouraged to offer constructive feedback on each other’s work. Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, has written extensively in his book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention about the importance of creating a culture where employees feel safe to take risks and make mistakes. Likewise, Warby Parker during their annual event called WP Weekend, emphasizes the importance of collaboration and teamwork, and regularly hosts events and activities to build community among employees.

Security is the key to open all successful attempts in innovation, growth and eventually the “revenue”.

As a CTO, it is crucial to recognize the signs of psychological insecurity within your company, as this can have a profound impact on the overall performance and well-being of your team members. One key indicator of a psychologically unsafe environment is a lack of open communication. You might observe that meetings are dominated by only a few voices or that there is minimal engagement during discussions. Team members may also avoid giving feedback or constructive criticism to their colleagues.

Another sign of psychological insecurity is a pervasive fear of failure. This can hinder innovation and stifle progress, as team members may be reluctant to take risks or explore new approaches. In such an environment, blame and criticism often become the norm, leading to a culture of defensiveness and impeding collaboration.

Trust is a critical component of a healthy work environment, and when psychological safety is lacking, trust among team members can quickly erode. This can manifest in various ways, such as reduced transparency or a reluctance to share information. Furthermore, high turnover rates can be symptomatic of an unsafe workplace culture, as employees may leave the company in search of more supportive environments.

Recognizing these symptoms can be challenging, as they may be subtle and difficult to detect. As a CTO, it is essential to actively listen to your team members and create opportunities for feedback. Implementing regular check-ins and anonymous surveys can help gauge the psychological safety of your workplace. By addressing these issues early and consistently working to foster a safe and supportive environment, you can create a culture of collaboration and innovation within your company that will ultimately contribute to its success.

Leaders set the tone for company culture, so it’s essential that executives and managers model the behaviors you want employees to emulate. Encourage them to lead by example and create an atmosphere where mistakes are viewed as opportunities for growth and learning.

When you join a company, you can quickly sense the charisma and style of the founders or managers. Similarly, when I begin working with an engineering team, I can often deduce the kind of person their CTO is after a brief conversation with any of the employees. As a leader, you serve as the glue that holds your team together. You must first instill in them a sense of psychological confidence, and then prove it to them at every opportunity with your fair, humble, and established personality.

Open communication channels are vital in fostering a culture of trust and transparency. Encourage team members to regularly share their concerns and feedback, and utilize one-on-one meetings to discuss employee performance and address any concerns they may have. If no one in your company gives feedback or complains, things may be much worse than they seem. An engineering team that appears to be doing well but remains silent is at best stagnant and is likely rapidly going backwards.

To encourage communication, you must get people to talk. The best way to do this is through one-on-one conversations. When people see that you are genuinely open with them, they are more likely to respond in kind.

If one-on-one conversations are not successful, consider developing anonymous feedback mechanisms. For example, Slido is a widely used platform for collecting feedback. Alternatively, a small metal box placed in the office can serve the same purpose. People can write down what they want to say and put it in the box. However, it is important to avoid making anonymous comments a culture. In the long run, this will harm the company and contribute to a culture of gossip and blaming. It is best to use this approach for a temporary period and abandon it once you have encouraged enough people to communicate openly.

If no one on your team has malicious intent or is intentionally abusing the system, they should not be publicly blamed or, worse, fired for making a mistake. Rushing to terminate them is not the solution.

Large shortages of your product or service are naturally noticed by everyone in the company. Such situations can put a lot of pressure on your shoulders and may be caused by an obvious mistake made by a programmer on your team. The way you react, including your facial expressions, can undermine your efforts to build psychological trust and can be carefully monitored by the entire team.

Even the worst mistakes can be compensated for. During crisis situations, focus on solving the problem first. Do not blame anyone or use a harsh tone. Your sole focus should be to get the system back up and running as quickly as possible and resolve the issue. Ensure that everyone on your team is focused on this goal, and do not tolerate any deviation from it.

Once the problem has been resolved and things have returned to normal, it’s important to focus on the root cause of the error, which may be due to human error. Use this as an opportunity for development. If the mistake was due to a lack of knowledge, focus on upskilling the individual and others in similar roles by providing training or organizing mentorship sessions.

If these individuals continue to repeat the same mistakes and fail to learn from them, the only remaining option may be to terminate their employment. However, it is important for everyone on your team to know that you invested in these individuals and gave them your best effort.

Building a sense of community within your organization can also contribute to psychological safety. Regular team-building events, outings, and activities can help strengthen relationships between team members. Consider sponsoring charity events or volunteer opportunities that align with your company’s values to further unite your team.

The way you provide psychological safety is highly subjective, so each company’s method should be different. A method that works for one company may not work for another. Focus on the strengths of your job, add fun and socialization to it, and bring people together.

Let’s take a look at how Patagonia is doing it.

Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company, is known for its focus on social responsibility and sustainability. One way they cultivate psychological safety within their company is through their “Let My People Go Surfing” policy. This policy allows employees to take time off during work hours to engage in activities such as surfing or hiking, which are in line with the company’s values and promote work-life balance. Additionally, Patagonia encourages employees to bring their whole selves to work and share their passions and interests, creating a culture of openness and authenticity. Through their commitment to social responsibility and sustainability, Patagonia fosters a sense of purpose among employees and creates a supportive and empowering work environment.

When we rise from our chairs and leave our titles and egos behind, we often discover how much we truly have in common. As we gather together and enjoy each other’s company, a magical energy can envelop us, leading to a naturally evolving atmosphere of trust and collaboration.

Regularly Conducting Retrospectives

As you are reading this book, you are probably already implementing one or more agile methodologies. In agile methodologies, retrospectives are meetings held at the end of each iteration (or sprint) to reflect on the work completed and identify areas for improvement. These meetings create an opportunity for the team to discuss successes, challenges, and learnings, promoting a culture of continuous improvement. To encourage open and honest discussion, retrospectives should be structured with a focus on identifying actionable improvements for future iterations.

To ensure the success of retrospectives, consider the following tips:

Establish a regular cadence by scheduling retrospective meetings at consistent intervals, such as bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly. This consistency is crucial for cultivating a culture of reflection and continuous improvement.

Before the retrospective meeting, define clear goals and objectives for the session. Encourage your team to provide feedback on what went well, what didn’t, and areas that could be improved. Be specific and actionable in setting your goals.

Creating a safe environment is essential during retrospective meetings. Ensure that every team member feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions without fearing retribution or judgment. Encourage open and honest communication and demonstrate this by leading by example.

After the retrospective meeting, develop an action plan based on the feedback received. Allocate responsibilities for each action item and monitor their progress. During the next retrospective meeting, follow up on the action items to ensure accountability.

Use data and metrics to support your retrospective discussions. This may include metrics on team velocity, code quality, bug rates, customer satisfaction, or any other relevant data. Data-driven decisions contribute to basing your team’s feedback on objective facts and figures rather than subjective opinions.

Successful collaboration with other teams, such as product managers and designers, is essential for an engineering team to create high-quality products and ensure a smooth workflow. During retrospectives, it’s important to remember that you are part of a bigger team. Avoid blaming others or trying to protect your engineers. If someone in your team has a defensive or aggressive attitude, intervene if necessary.

Retrospectives are an honest sharing and development environment, involving all disciplines. Nothing more.

Celebrating Failures and Learnings

Amazon’s “Just Do It Award” is an internal award program designed to recognize and celebrate employees who take risks, innovate, and learn from their mistakes. The award highlights the company’s culture of innovation and reinforces the notion that failures can lead to valuable learnings and new opportunities. By encouraging experimentation and risk-taking, Amazon aims to foster an environment where employees feel empowered to pursue new ideas, even if they don’t always succeed.

This program is organized within the company to acknowledge employees at all levels who have demonstrated a willingness to take risks and learn from their mistakes. Employees can nominate their colleagues or themselves for this award, and the winners are often recognized in company meetings or internal communications. The award not only celebrates the individual achievements of the employees but also serves as a reminder for the entire organization that embracing failure is a crucial part of innovation and growth.

It has performed well in terms of fostering a culture that embraces risk-taking and learning from mistakes. It aligns with Amazon’s core leadership principle of “bias for action,” which emphasizes the importance of making decisions quickly, even if they may not always be perfect. This culture of experimentation has contributed to Amazon’s success as one of the world’s most innovative companies, as it encourages employees to pursue innovative ideas without the fear of failure.

Similarly Etsy created a program with a perfectly chosen funny name called “Three-Armed Sweater Award”. It is a trophy given to employees who have experienced a notable failure but have learned valuable lessons from it. Celebrating failures in this manner encourages employees to view mistakes as opportunities for growth and learning rather than something to be avoided.

Make good use of those difficult moments. As the Spanish say, “Lo hecho, pecho,” meaning to carry what has been done on one’s chest. This implies that one must accept the consequences of their actions and learn to live with them. When an unwanted situation arises, the best thing to do is to learn from it. By doing this as a team, you can establish a culture within the company. In the long run, this culture is what will make you successful.