How to learn from failure
September 4th, 2009 by Ingrid Cliff
Following on from our last post about why people cheat, there is another neat study reported in Neuromarketing that looks at how people can learn best from failure.
In this particular study kids were given a test and after being graded were either praised for being smart or praised for their effort. The kids who were praised for their hard work were shown to perform better in subsequent tests than the ones praised for being smart.
It is suggested that the ones praised for their effort took the time to analyse where they went wrong and to learn from their mistakes, whereas the smart ones rested on their laurels.
Other studies showed that adults who analysed their performance and mistakes improved their skills over time.
So what does that mean for managers? It means for example in performance reviews recognising and rewarding effort. It means taking the time to analyse errors and mistakes to help learn from them. It means project debriefing should be an essential part of every successful team at the conclusion of each major project.
The warm fuzzy “you’ve all done very well” will not improve your performance or the performance of your team. Critical, clear yet supportive analysis will.
Until next time
Ingrid Cliff
We put your business into words
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