Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Momentum
Mistakes. They’re unavoidable, uncomfortable, and often downright frustrating. But here’s the real kicker—mistakes are also one of the most powerful tools for growth, if you know how to use them. This is where the concept of "failing forward" comes in. It’s not about avoiding failure, but about embracing it, learning from it, and using it to push yourself—and your team—further.
In leadership, and especially when empowering your team, mistakes are inevitable. The key is to turn those missteps into momentum. This post is all about how to do just that, using the Insight-to-Impact Loop to ensure that every failure becomes a stepping stone toward success.
Insight: Mistakes Are Part of the Process
Here’s the A-ha! moment every leader needs to have: failure isn’t the end of the road—it’s part of the journey. Mistakes are inevitable, whether you’re leading a small team or a global brand. The real insight here is understanding that failure is not something to fear; it’s something to harness.
Throughout my career, I’ve worked with teams and brands that have all had their fair share of missteps. Some of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve experienced happened because of failure, not despite it. The insight? If you’re not failing, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.
Failure, in many ways, is a sign that you’re taking risks, trying new things, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. And while it’s uncomfortable in the moment, the long-term value it brings to your team or brand is immeasurable.
Impact: So What Does This Mean for Your Leadership?
Now, let’s move to the So What?—what does this insight mean for your leadership and your team?
If you’re not comfortable with failure, you’re likely holding back from the kind of risks that lead to innovation. And more importantly, if your team isn’t allowed to fail, they’re not empowered to take ownership or try new things. The impact is twofold:
Innovation Stagnates: When people are afraid to fail, they’ll stick to what’s safe. But innovation doesn’t come from playing it safe. It comes from testing boundaries, trying new approaches, and, yes, failing sometimes.
Team Growth Is Stunted: If your team feels like failure will be met with harsh consequences, they won’t take risks. And if they’re not taking risks, they’re not growing. You end up with a team that plays it safe, which might maintain the status quo, but won’t push your brand or business forward.
As a leader, the impact of failing forward is enormous. When you create an environment where mistakes are viewed as opportunities, your team becomes more innovative, more engaged, and more resilient. They know that failure isn’t something to fear—it’s a chance to learn and improve.
Action: Now What? Failing Forward with the Insight-to-Impact Loop
So, how do you actually implement the idea of failing forward in your team or business? This is where the Insight-to-Impact Loop comes in. Here’s how you can turn mistakes into momentum:
Normalize Failure in Your Culture – The first step is shifting your team’s mindset around failure. Make it clear that mistakes are not only acceptable but expected as part of the growth process. This doesn’t mean accepting failure without accountability, but it does mean removing the fear of failure.
Learn from Every Mistake – Use failures as learning opportunities. After a project goes off-track or doesn’t meet expectations, bring the team together to debrief. What went wrong? Why did it happen? And most importantly, how can you avoid the same mistake next time? Make it a learning moment, not a blaming moment.
Take Immediate Action Post-Failure – When something goes wrong, don’t let it fester. The best way to fail forward is to take action immediately. This might mean pivoting your strategy, tweaking your approach, or trying something entirely new. The key is to use the failure as fuel to propel you forward.
Celebrate the Learning, Not Just the Success – It’s easy to celebrate the wins, but don’t forget to acknowledge the lessons learned from failure. When your team sees that you value the learning process as much as the end result, they’ll feel more empowered to take risks and innovate.
The Power of Failing Forward in Brand Evolution
Brand evolution thrives on the concept of failing forward. If your brand is too afraid of making mistakes, it’s unlikely to take the leaps necessary to stay relevant in a rapidly changing marketplace. The most innovative brands in the world—think Apple, Nike, even Amazon—didn’t get to where they are by playing it safe. They failed. A lot. And they used those failures to propel themselves into the next phase of their evolution.
Your team’s journey should be no different. Empowering them to fail forward doesn’t just make them stronger individually—it makes your entire organization stronger, more resilient, and more prepared to tackle whatever challenges lie ahead.
How Do You Fail Forward? So, how do you handle failure in your leadership? Are you turning mistakes into momentum, or are you letting them hold you back? Let’s chat in the comments—how do you empower your team to fail forward and use the Insight-to-Impact Loop to learn and grow?
Empowerment isn’t always clean, but it’s essential for growth. Explore why the chaos of empowerment is a necessary part of leadership in The Messiness of Empowering People (And Why It’s Worth It).