Goals
Establish the foundation to drive innovation and accelerate value through:
• Building a learning culture enabling a safe environment for experimentation over blame
• Normalizing the concept of intelligent failure as a critical part of learning and success
• Moving beyond siloed knowledge to create organizational wisdom
Challenges
Enterprise-level initiatives addressing innovation and a learning culture were too high-level and sporadic. Mixed messages were sent regarding a desire to innovate versus “getting things done.” A relatable, sustainable program was needed to support team members and leadership to embrace intelligent failure across the organization.
Solution
We focused our program on a single foundational area with an immediate and powerful impact on innovation and culture: failure—a shared, deeply personal experience that shapes every organization. Inevitable in complex environments, failure holds immense value, yet its lessons are rarely captured or leveraged well. By reframing failure as a strategic learning tool, organizations can unlock new opportunities, strengthen resilience, and drive continuous growth and adaptability.
Business outcomes: Energized innovation, accelerated value
300+ team members and leadership participated together as small groups in interactive sessions centered on exploring and normalizing failure, planning for and learning from failure, and pursuing intelligent failure to drive innovation. Over 96% of participants surveyed rated sessions as very or extremely effective. Based on the overwhelmingly positive results, leadership developed two ongoing programs to recognize those who contributed to organizational capability by employing intelligent failure concepts. A safe space built on trust and transparency now exists to pursue truly innovative solutions. This accelerates value delivery, increases organizational wisdom, and establishes a strong cultural foundation where people feel empowered to test ideas, share insights, and work authentically.
