Governance and Failure: Board Trustees That Can Celebrate Failure
“Ever skilled at simplification, Larry boiled Maultsby’s multistep practice of rational self-counseling down to this: Stop–Challenge–Choose. The power of the stop–challenge–choose framework lies in its simplicity. As an aid to reframing, it’s also consistent with insights I gained from studying with Chris Argyris… To put wisdom simply, one could say the fundamental human challenge is this: It’s hard to learn if you already know.” Edmondson, 2023, p. 192-193.
Failure response is a habit. For most, it’s a bad habit. But with learning, we want you to consider how it can be a good habit.
This post is for non-profit boards, and it centers on good habit failure response. It’s time to stop the board equivalent of nail-biting and smoking. Growth-minded organizations are finished with quick-brain responses to intelligent failures. The space that your innovative and failure-at-the-dinner-table organization now occupies requires a critical shift for the board members in their responses to failure. Those automatic, “no space for new learning” bad habits cannot be tolerated for board members any longer. It’s time for real rising to happen.
Stop, Challenge, Choose
Stop! When the surprise happens – you know, then the risky-but-high-upside plan falls flat – the first thing board members must do is stop. Stopping mitigates irrational responses and injects self-awareness and emotional intelligence into the equation. At this very moment, it is essential for board members to recognize their own biases, emotions, and knee-jerk reactions in the face of failure – even intelligent failure. This will be helped if the culture is already psychologically safe. (What we mean is this: by fostering a culture that values mindfulness and thoughtful reflection, board members can regularly stop irrational responses in their tracks.) But even if psychological safety is a new idea for your organization, it is still critical that board members pause. Take a step back. Breathe. Consider the situation objectively before reacting. Encouraging open communication and constructive feedback within the boardroom also helps to temper impulsive reactions, promoting a more rational approach to challenges.
Challenge! Challenging immediate tendencies to pass blame or retreat to former ways is crucial for fostering accountability and a culture of shared responsibility among board members and the Executive Director. Rather than pointing fingers when faced with failure, board members can adopt a collaborative approach to problem-solving. This involves critically examining the contributing factors to the failure, acknowledging individual and collective accountability, and working together to address the underlying issues. By challenging the instinct to assign blame, board members create an environment where mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning and improvement rather than as grounds for consequence. By challenging the parts of the failed strategy that got the plan sideways, your innovative idea still might be alive–very much alive.
Choose! Choosing a growth mindset for the organization involves embracing failure as a natural part of the learning process. Board members can set the tone for the entire organization by demonstrating resilience and optimism in the face of setbacks. By framing failures as opportunities for growth and innovation, board members can inspire a culture of continuous improvement within the organization. Choosing a growth mindset also involves encouraging risk-taking and experimentation, as long as they are informed and aligned with the organization's strategic objectives. Ultimately, by embracing a growth mindset, board members can steer the organization towards sustainable success and resilience in the ever-evolving business landscape.
Now what? Let’s hear that pep talk from Edmondson one more time. “It’s hard to learn if you already know.”
Do you want to operationalize this? Seriously? This will completely change your organizational culture – for the better.
Before the next board meeting, ask the Board Chair for a short agenda item.
Let the Executive Director know your plans. Tell her or him that this will revolutionize the Organization.
Draw a target or bring a dart board.
Point to the bullseye. Point to the closest rings near the bullseye. Point to the outer ring. Point to all the “airspace” around the target – the clear miss space.
Make it clear that as a board, you and your colleagues expect to see darts that hit and miss. That you expect more intelligent misses than you’ve been seeing as long as they are calculated risks.
Remind the entire group that the Board’s response to all hits and misses will be the same: Stop, Challenge, Choose.
Hand your Executive Director (or Head of School) some darts. Tell her or him that the board is ready to support the hits and misses. Throw boldly.
And we’re ready to help if you need a hand with this. We regularly coach boards in this kind of thing, and the coaching is working! Let us know if you would like us to join you for your next retreat, monthly meeting, or Executive Committee of the board. Watch for rising!
