Amy Edmondson

Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, Author, American scholar of leadership, teaming, and organizational learning

Amy Edmondson is a renowned expert in teaming, team psychological safety (a term she coined), and organizational learning. Since 2011, she has consistently ranked among the top management thinkers in the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking, securing the #1 position in both 2021 and 2023. Her work has been published in leading academic and management journals, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, and Harvard Business Review. Her book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, has been translated into 15 languages and has had a profound impact on organizational culture. Her latest book, Right Kind of Wrong, extends her previous work on psychological safety and teaming, offering a framework for embracing failure as a pathway to success.

A healthy failure culture rewards intelligent failure. Without it, there can be no innovation. Without innovation, no organization can survive over the long term. But vaguely negative consequences for not trying can make a healthy failure culture even more powerful.

Flight Template Series: Amy Edmondson: Teaming, Learning from Failure, and Psychological Safety

Leveraging Intelligent Failures for Innovation

Description

In Amy Edmondson's book Right Kind of Wrong, she delves into the concept of intelligent failures – failures that occur in the pursuit of innovative ideas or ambitious goals, where risks are taken, and lessons are learned. In the exploration of intelligent failures, she provides a framework for distinguishing them from other types of failures. A basic failure stems from carelessness or ignorance, while a complex failure results from multiple factors interacting. In contrast, intelligent failure is intrinsic to ventures involving calculated risks that could yield significant rewards. Edmondson outlines four key characteristics of intelligent failures:

1) New Territory: The failure occurs when striving for goals that demand innovation, not mere replication. It involves venturing into uncharted territory where existing knowledge cannot provide a clear roadmap.
2) Credible Opportunity: The failure is rooted in well-thought-out plans with meaningful potential for advancement. It offers substantial rewards, aligning with strategic objectives rather than aimless endeavors.
3) Hypothesis-Driven: The failure is informed by existing knowledge, grounded in research and analysis. It is not a blind leap but reasoned action based on a foundation of understanding and expectation of success.
4) Optimal Size: The failure is kept minimal in scope, minimizing resource investment while still yielding valuable insights. The goal is to obtain new knowledge at the lowest possible cost.

Embracing intelligent failures means acknowledging that not all experiments will succeed, but each failure presents an opportunity for growth and learning. By adhering to these principles, you can navigate risks intelligently, increasing your chances of future success while fostering a culture of innovation and resilience. This template will help your team delve into these concepts and apply them, fostering an environment conducive to intelligent experimentation and continuous improvement.

Types of Insights

Practical strategies for encouraging innovation

Deeper understanding of intelligent failure

Assessment of past experiences and opportunities for future intelligent risk-taking

Potential gaps in team’s current processes and communication

Amy Edmondson

Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, Author, American scholar of leadership, teaming, and organizational learning

Flight Template Series: Amy Edmondson: Teaming, Learning from Failure, and Psychological Safety

Leveraging Intelligent Failures for Innovation

Categories

Description

Suggested Questions

Types of Insights

Other Flight Templates in this series from this author

Collaborate without groupthink