Its okay to fail
When you are innovating, failure isn't a setback; it is a tool for growth.
When building a greenfield team, it's common to face challenges and make mistakes. The important thing is to create a culture where everyone understands that failures are opportunities to learn.
Over the past two years, I've had the opportunity to lead my team in embracing this philosophy. We focused on rapid iteration and continuous learning, resulting in a staggering number of experiments-15 in total (not the actual number but almost there). Only 30% of these experiments were successful. The remaining 70% taught us valuable lessons about what worked and what didn't.
Here's what I've learned about building a growth mindset within a team:
Embrace Failure as a Leader
It’s often said that failure is a stepping stone to success, but living by that mindset is much harder, especially when two out of three experiments fail.
Throughout my journey, facing repeated failures in experiments was exhausting and increased self-doubt (oh, hello impostor syndrome). It takes immense self-belief to focus on lessons learned, rather than obsessing over success or failure. Learning to treat both as equally valuable is key. Ultimately, making peace with uncertainty and accepting failures as part of the process is crucial for growth.
But accepting failure takes real courage, especially as a leader. It’s one thing to acknowledge that failure is normal—it’s another to actively live by it. In my case, the first four projects failed miserably. We launched, re-launched, yet success was elusive. It wasn’t until we took the time to debug the core issues that we uncovered an issue. Fixing it led to double-digit baseline improvements.
Shifting my mindset from seeing failure as a setback to embracing it as a learning opportunity was a game-changer.
As a leader, you should:
- Accept failure as part of the process.
- Take calculated risks yourself and own the outcomes.
- Celebrate successes, but also reflect deeply on failures.
Create a Safe Space for Mistakes
As a leader, encourage open dialogue about failures. I’ve held dedicated retrospectives to discuss mistakes and normalize failure within the team. While formal retrospectives are useful, simply fostering honest and open communication about setbacks has been transformative.
Leading by example is essential. When you stand by your word and show vulnerability, your team follows suit.
If your leaders aren’t passionate about learning or only focus on success metrics, it might be time to challenge their mindset.
To foster this environment:
Build Trust: Create a space where team members feel safe sharing mistakes. Open communication and vulnerability lead to stronger learning.
Promote Respect and Empathy: Everyone should feel valued and supported. A culture built on respect helps create a safe environment for both mistakes and growth.
Make Learning from Failures Mandatory: Ensure that every failure leads to valuable lessons. Each setback provides insights into execution, strategy, or process.
Creating a culture where people feel comfortable taking risks and learning from their mistakes is essential. By fostering a growth mindset, you empower your team to overcome obstacles, innovate, and ultimately achieve great things. When mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth, setbacks become stepping stones rather than barriers.
As a leader, you should:
- Create a trusting environment.
- Set clear expectations.
- Make learning from failures non-negotiable.
Focus on Launching and Quality
Delivering a minimum viable product (MVP), launching it, gathering feedback, and iterating sounds simple—even cliché—but it’s surprising how often teams overlook this.
For startups, neglecting this approach can lead to early bankruptcy. While established companies may have more time to refine their products, the focus should still be on releasing the MVP, not waiting for perfection. The longer you delay, the greater the risk of missing opportunities.
There’s a misconception among engineers and product managers that moving faster compromises quality. But quality is non-negotiable, whether you're shipping one line of code a week or rolling out updates every day. Every product you release must meet high standards from the outset.
As a leader, you should:
- Ensure timely product launches.
- Maintain uncompromising quality.
- Iterate quickly and learn from feedback.
Final thoughts
Creating a culture that embraces failure, fosters trust, and prioritizes quality over speed can set your team up for lasting success. As a leader, it’s your role to guide this mindset shift. Whether through fostering open communication, encouraging learning from failure, or focusing on launching and iterating products, you shape the environment for your team’s growth.