What “Failing Forward” Really Means

My staff has permission to make mistakes. But only new mistakes.

 

Making mistakes is part of good business. If you’re not failing at things, you’re not innovating.

 

But what’s unforgivable is making the same mistakes over and over again. No one has the time or resources for that.

 

Last week, I was on a call with a business owner who was great at embracing her mistakes. The problem was that she confused “making mistakes” with “winning”.

 

Her business is seven years old. But she’s still running the front counter. She’s still ordering the inventory. She’s still collecting staff timesheets and writing checks and cleaning on the weekends.She hasn’t had seven years of business experience; she’s had one year, repeated seven times.

 

“Falling forward” means making NEW mistakes, and never repeating the old ones, because you took the time to fix them.

 

Mistakes can have a ratcheting affect in your business. You push the big rock forward a tiny bit. Then it can roll all the way back…or you can jam a wedge beneath it. Those wedges are the systems you build on the lessons you learn.

 

For example, if a client asks for a refund on their purchase, and you don’t have a policy about refunds, then you have to give them a refund. Whoops! That’s an error. But it’s only a mistake if you don’t immediately write a refund policy. The policy is the wedge. And next time someone requests a refund, the wedge will stop the rock from rolling backward.

 

The reason our mentorship program is so powerful is because of the wedges. The combined experience of 500 entrepreneurs has created a massive ratchet effect. We mentor entrepreneurs to push the rock forward…and then say, “Here’s what you need to create to keep it from rolling backward.” Lever, wedge, lever, wedge. Click, click, click.

 

The great part about those wedges is that they’re not expensive…because we’ve already paid for them. Our mistakes sometimes run to the tens of thousands–but you don’t have to pay for them. I once paid $130,000 in salaries for one staff position with huge turnover. The turnover was caused by my lack of clarity and systems: it was simply impossible for anyone to be successful in the position. You don’t have to make the same mistakes. You can push off my wedge. You can fail forward.

 

In your own business, you can start forgiving yourself for making mistakes–but ONLY if you don’t repeat them. Stop beating yourself up, and start writing stuff down. During any crisis, your top question should be “How can I prevent this from happening again?” Then jam that wedge home in the future.

 

My staff playbook keeps getting thicker. It’s the sum of all of my policies and procedures. And it’s thick enough to stop a huge rock from rolling backward onto my toe.

 

 

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