Smart, successful individuals often struggle with learning from failure, due to their track record of success. This resistance to learning can hinder organisational growth. By reframing failure as a learning opportunity, businesses can promote a culture of growth and improvement.
Professionals are typically taught to analyse and solve problems, not reflect on their role in creating them. This can lead to a defensive reasoning process, where individuals avoid acknowledging their own mistakes and failures. Defensive reasoning is a barrier to learning, as it prevents individuals from critically evaluating their actions and behaviours.
By promoting a culture of productive reasoning, businesses can encourage their employees to view mistakes as opportunities for learning, rather than failures to be avoided. This requires creating a safe environment where individuals feel comfortable admitting their mistakes and failures.
Leaders play a crucial role in promoting a learning culture. They need to model productive reasoning and provide constructive feedback, fostering an environment where employees are comfortable discussing their failures and learning from them. This can lead to improved performance, innovation, and organisational growth.
In summary, reframing failure as a learning opportunity, promoting productive reasoning, and fostering a safe learning environment can help businesses overcome the learning paradox and drive organisational growth.
Go to source article: https://hbr.org/1991/05/teaching-smart-people-how-to-learn