Fear of failure in organizations

by Mario H. Noronha

Topic of this content: How fear of failure in organizations contributes to their lack of innovation

Who might be interested in reading: professionals and organizations

In this fourth – and last – text of the current month, we will address the fear of failure in organizations, one of the factors that can contribute to their lack of innovation.

Fear of failure – in organizations – means a culture that punishes failure rather than seeing it as a learning opportunity, which can discourage employees from taking the risks necessary for innovation.

This means that fear of repercussions can lead to a conservative mentality, which avoids experimentation, an essential ingredient in innovation processes.

Consequently, the lack of innovation can mean a loss of opportunities to solve unmet needs, which allow entering new markets or creating new categories of products and services. In other words, limits are created for the success potential and impact of an organization with its customers and/or target audiences.

"The fear of failure kills creativity and intelligence. The only thing it produces is conformity." - Anup Kochhar

One possible solution is to promote psychological safety, which consists of creating an environment where employees feel safe to express their ideas, having the opportunity to take risks and express their opinions without fear of being ridiculed or punished.

Any mechanisms that promote psychological safety are fundamental to unlocking the creative potential of an organization's employees.

However, there are obstacles on this journey and one of them is the fact that many organizations focus - mainly - on short-term results, which can lead to neglecting long-term innovation projects, which, naturally, require time to mature.

One way to get around and/or overcome this obstacle may involve a greater balance between short-term and medium- or long-term objectives, seeking to ensure that innovation is part of the strategic agenda, with clear goals and metrics for everyone involved within the organization.

By adopting the proposed solution and bypassing and/or overcoming some of the existing obstacles (namely what was previously mentioned), organizations also acquire a greater capacity to attract and retain talent, because they provide a stimulating context for creative employees, with a vision of future, who want to work in dynamic and challenging environments, which are some of the characteristics of innovative organizations.

Next month, we will begin a set of articles under a new theme.

Author's note: this text expresses a personal perspective framed within some parameters, it is not a scientific article, of a medical, prescriptive or binding nature. It is also important to note that it was not intended to be an exhaustive analysis, in the future there will be new texts that will address other ways of looking at these same topics.

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