Learning From Failure

by Guy St. Clair

Is it "failure"? Or is it "disappointment"?

All knowledge workers experience failure from time to time. Failure is not an experience we dwell on or give a lot of attention to, but it is fairly common.

Several of us went through it last June, when SLA's Management Development Institute (MDI 2001) was canceled. After the innovative staff at SLA's Strategic Learning and Development Center put the program's basic framework together, five of us were invited to facilitate the program and to serve as "consulting experts" for the institute's attendees. We worked hard to develop the case study and we had a very clear idea of what the attendees would take from the experience (nothing less, mind you, than "engaging in learning for the real world"). And, yes, we were very pleased and excited to have the opportunity to work with fellow association members on what we called "the big issues," or, as the marketing materials described it: "dealing with challenges; identifying, meeting, and exceeding needs; creating value; building loyalty."

Along the way we would get the opportunity to stretch, use our own brains, and work with others to go places, managerially speaking, we had not gone before.

Well, it didn't happen. We planned the party, but no one came.

It was a bummer and we were all disappointed. Our much vaunted "big picture" institute just didn't get the numbers.

Did we fail? Or were we simply the victims of circumstances? What matters is what we learned from the experience.

For one thing, I learned that nothing goes to waste. The work that the five of us (together with the association's good staff) did on this project will be used and re-used in our daily work. One example: as we prepared the case study, I became fascinated with the critical importance of linking departmental goals with corporate goals. We talked a lot about this issue as we planned the institute. The week after San Antonio, I discovered that one of my "pet" projectsso highly touted, so popular, and so well acclaimedwasn't going to be funded. Developing the project simply didn't fit into the company's plans at this particular time.

What we did was not wasted from another perspective. The institute, as we developed it, was good. There's no question the case study, the framework, the readings, and all the "pieces" fit together in a nice packageone that would provide attendees with a provocative and worthwhile learning experience. Is all that effort lost? It was not by a long shot. Elements of this work will show up in a variety of places, including the presentations and teaching that the five of us do in the workplace.

We also learned (or simply reinforced) the value of teamwork and camaraderie. I was dealing with several of the smartest and best-respected thinkers in the entire knowledge services community. While I was delighted to be working with these people, I was also frequently humbled because they know so much. From meeting them, I took away knowledge and stories that I carry into the workplace on a daily basis.

The most important lesson I learned may have been that assessing the environment is critical. (Is this what my grandmother meant, when she used to say, "Look before you leap"?). I know my colleagues, myself, and probably a great many of our associates are very excited at the prospect of sitting down and having that "big picture" conversation about management/organizational development, and corporate knowledge.

But do our interests reflect those of others in our community?

Who can say? For me, I would like to think they do. I have not regretted for one moment the thought and the study that went into preparing for the institute. Was what we did germane to the daily lives of our professional colleagues in the association? I don't know, but I do think I'll be more careful next time. No matter how much I might want to do somethingto have a positive and rewarding experience for myselfI've got to stop and think about the environment and others in that environment. I would like to think that we're all at the same place, but we're not.

Nothing was wasted. The value of teamwork and the importance of the environmental assessment are good lessons. While I might have known about them (or even have experienced them) in other circumstances, this learning experience (even when it ended in "failure") taught me these things all over again.

Guy St. Clair is the senior systems analyst, knowledge management and learning at Dynamics Research Corporation in New York. Email Guy at learning.sla.org.