Monday, May 6, 2024

Fruitful Failure

When failure is allowed, it can be discussed, analyzed, and eliminated through development and growth

By Neil Houtman, Local 52 and National Board Member

Failure is one of those recurring events in life. I hate to fail, and I do not do it well. I find it disheartening and distracting. That is my deep dark confession.

But I am working on correcting this way of looking at failure. To be clear, this is not about negligence or carelessness, although even they can teach valuable lessons.

I am guilty of being quick to step in when an apprentice or coworker is struggling with doing something right. It is part of my loathing for failure. But I have begun to realize that stopping them, or myself, from struggling or failing at a task doesn’t do them, or myself, any favours.

I have found that allowing for failure, coupled with accountability, does not increase waste, nor does it increase poor results. It encourages honestly accepting mistakes and promotes open criticism of quality by setting standards and acknowledging it takes time to get there.

I have found that when failures are harshly criticized, they are hidden, covered up, and repeated. If failure can be allowed, it can be discussed, analyzed, and eliminated through development and growth.

A copilot for a commercial passenger airline told me a story about landing on one of the shortest runways in Canada. The tolerances were very tight, and the touch-down line was absolute.

The pilot allowed him to execute the landing, and he ended up missing the mark by 30 metres. At 200 kilometres per hour, that is a fraction of a second.

The captain told him to take the plane back up again as he had missed the mark and proceeded to make the announcement to the passengers that they would be reattempting the landing. This time, there was not a navigational flight plan, and the landing would have to be attempted manually. The captain asked the copilot if he was prepared to try again, offered him the attempt, and sat back as the landing was executed flawlessly.

When I heard this story, I realized a number of things very quickly. Missing the mark by 30 metres is a tiny percentage of the length of the runway, but it is an absolute. In allowing the copilot to fail, there was no doubt that taking the $30 million plane and 40 passengers for a second try was completely acceptable and necessary. Also, the captain ensured that his copilot was not flustered or shaken by the failed attempt and that he was mentally and emotionally capable of a second try.

By allowing the second attempt, the captain was reinforcing that failure can happen to very skilled people. Now, I have no doubt that if it came to it, a third attempt would probably have been handled by the pilot.

Failure has the potential to be a bold opportunity for growth, and learning the proper way to embrace it is key to meaningful success. It is a way to promote one of CLAC’s core values: giving dignity to workers in place of shame.

Fruitful Failure

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