Innovate - Fail forward and fail often
Innovation will never be right the first time; if it is, then it probably was not innovation! But with trust, accountability and relationships established, you should have the reputation to be able to “fail forward” - to show others that it is okay to take risks and try new things; that there will not be negative repercussions as long as they are learning and are taking sensible risks. You must encourage your team to try new things, and when they fall off the horse, to get straight back on. Ask your peers, customers and even competition, when they learned the most in their careers, and they will probably indicate they learned more in the challenging times of their career than the good times. They had to work with scarce resources and be creative. With that in mind, why not challenge your team to always work like that? How different would that make your world? What about your team? Your customers? When was the last time you truly presented your customer with a creative solution? Also, when you make mistakes, document them, work them into knowledge management and keep going. You are responsible to set the standard for the team, so do not be afraid of some small public failures, because how can you expect others to take risks if you are unwilling?
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