Leverage Mistakes Made in Your Organization as a Tool for Innovation

Published on May 7, 2025

Both individuals and organizations can become paralyzed by the fear of failure. However, avoiding the risk of error could be the biggest mistake.

During periods of uncertainty, business leaders may be tempted to avoid change. However, upheaval forces us to evolve. During such periods, innovation can often open up an escape route.

Innovation is not possible if you don’t take risks. While your risks should be measured and monitored, they are a necessary part of trial and error.

Your organization would benefit from fostering a spirit of innovation at all times. This would mobilize your employees, offer you more flexibility, allow you to stay ahead of the game and give you an advantage over your competitors. To achieve this, your workers must be given the room required to move forward with any ideas they have and take initiative. Not taking risks is risky.

The trial and error process is part of innovation

Trial is an essential part of innovation. Progress is out of reach if you don’t venture into the unknown. You must broaden your horizons and experiment. Naturally, this will involve a certain level of error and constantly recalculating to find balance.

Error is not the same as failure

After brainstorming, you can move forward with the most promising ideas. You should experiment on a small scale in order to assess the pros and cons of your idea. Making mistakes is part of the process and we learn from our mistakes since an error is not a failure.

Learn from your mistakes

Taking note of what worked well and what was less successful on both an individual and collective level is important. Define benchmarks and a practical process for assessing your results. This will help you to avoid repeating the same mistakes and allow you to move in the right direction and find a viable solution.

Create a culture of error

Before your employees can feel comfortable with proposing ideas and taking initiative, they must feel like this approach is valued within the team. You have to set the example. Therefore, you should be daring and take calculated risks. Give your employees permission to make several attempts and measure the results.

Keep an open mind

Grey areas and ambiguity often go hand in hand with creativity and innovation. You must continue listening to your team members and be prepared to challenge any preconceived notions.

As a manager, if you’re unable to change your habits, your employees will be afraid to suggest ideas that are off the beaten path and, more importantly, won’t dare test them. As a result, you could miss out on a golden opportunity for your organization.

Participatory governance

It’s time to move on from a vertical management style. Managers don’t necessarily have to make all the decisions. On the contrary, allowing your employees to contribute to decision making at every level is preferable.

This process allows you to retain both an overall and more focused view of what is happening within your company. As a result, your decisions will be even more accurate and informed.

Therefore, by giving your employees leeway for trial and error, you will pave the way for beneficial discoveries. At the same time, you’ll boost employee mobilization.

Think beyond performance

We often refer to performance and productivity. Our organizational culture revolves around these concepts. However, the purpose of innovation is to maintain productivity while improving performance over time. Innovation requires a certain level of risk in order to ultimately become and remain efficient.

The role of a manager often involves minimizing uncertainty. Paradoxically, to mitigate risk, managers must also promote risk taking. Over the medium and long term, stagnation will make your organization inefficient and you’ll lose out to competitors.

It’s all about balance

Your approach to mistakes must be a priority. Accepting errors gives your employees the opportunity to be fulfilled and thrive in their role. Aiming for perfection while accepting risk is possible. It’s a question of striking a balance between the added value resulting from exploring new possibilities and the cost of error while learning from the process.

Support your workers during the trial and error process

Your management strategy should encourage identifying opportunities and taking risks while remaining available for your workers. You must support your employees when they propose initiatives and test out their ideas. Certain individuals may struggle with not getting it right the first time.

By supporting your workers, you reassure them and frame the results to determine which elements contributed to or hindered their experiment. What’s important is to always learn in order to move forward.

Move forward by allowing mistakes

The most innovative and most successful organizations are those that have already understood and integrated these principles and apply them every day within the company.

Highlight initiatives and accept errors. These are the main elements that organizations can leverage to boost performance and innovation.

If you don’t explore new avenues through trial and error, you won’t make progress. Embrace error. View it as an ally rather than an enemy.