Earlier this month the Hidden Brain podcast had an episode on beneficial mistakes. Early in the episode they discuss a study of medical mistakes in hospitals that podcast guest, Amy Edmondson, was conducting.
There was a period in which Edmondson thought there was a problem with her data because it was showing a strong statistical relationship between good team work and high error rates. She expected good team work to be associated with low error rates.
On a hunch she cross referenced her data with a question she asked people to rate a statement about making a mistake and how likely it would be held against you. It turned out there was a connection between fewer consequences for reporting a mistake and high error rate. In other words, people appeared to be more willing to report a mistake if there were fewer perceived consequences for doing so.
She had a research assistant go to the hospital to dig deeper into this question and the result seemed to bear out.
Amy Edmondson:
Exactly. It’s one of these profound insights that I think way too few leaders or even just people in families recognize that when you insist that we must have error-free performance or error-free lives, the main thing that happens is not that error goes away, it’s that you stop hearing about it.
While we often discuss how the creative process frequently involves making mistakes and trying new approaches and how this is an practice that non-profit arts can offer the commercial sector, the truth is that arts and creative team work environments can have little tolerance for mistakes.
Outside of the official bounds of a creative environment of rehearsals and early design reviews, the expectations of executing quickly and achieving a lot in a short time at low cost can be pretty high.
I recently told some folks that I am glad there has been a general trending away from the negative aspects of the work environment of my early career. I still hear and read about some pretty unforgiving and problematic practices.
It is worth remembering what I quote Amy Edmondson saying above – demanding people eliminate errors doesn’t mean they stop happening, just that people work to make sure no one hears about them.
I sit on the safety committee for my employer. One of the near fanatical focuses they have is reporting near misses because they are leading indicators of problems. Reporting you almost got stung by a scorpion opening up a water meter box and how you and others can avoid an actual sting in the future contributes to the prevention of injury.
But that sort of honest communication only occurs if there isn’t a perception of dire consequences in admitting you should have waited for a co-worker before climbing a ladder.
