King County
Failing Forward in action
Every failure can be valuable; failing forward means not only learning from mistakes, but also planning for them.
Top barriers to Failing Forward
Organisational changes have eroded trust and ability to work towards a shared goal
Outdated and lacking standards/processes to evaluate failure and success
Past culture of fear that connected failure to performance
Top ideas to embrace Failing Forward
Create a 'Phoenix' award to celebrate learning from failure
Host 'Lunch and Learns' to discuss historical challenges and failures
Develop framework to define and evaluate success and failure at the beginning of new projects
How to Fail (Forward)
A framework for fostering innovation in the public sector.
Drawing on our experience working with six local governments, we first investigate why it is so difficult for those in local government to learn from failures. Second, we consider what department leaders can do to build the conditions in which they and their teams can fail forward.