Hack:
Mistake of the Month

By Sam Swaminathan - Storyteller - to tell stories and influence thinking at Center for Creative Thinking

August 10, 2010 at 9:43am

Summary

Let people post their biggest mistakes each month on the company intranet. These posts are then reviewed by a revolving team to select the most glaring/dumb/obvious... mistake. The owner of the mistake is rewarded for the mistake!

Problem

A client of mine had a mandate to attract top media companies to set up shop in three years in the city. The place was unknown, the region unpopular, and the environment not very conducive to free thinking. The organization in turn was very hierarchical, and operated in a surrounding that supported a top down culture. Failure was not an option. So no ideas were being generated.

Solution

I was hired to bring about some changes. Among other things, I facilitated a thinking session with the top 10 or 12 folks, and taught them to come up with ideas. One idea was the mistake of the month meeting. Let me explain how it works.

Every employee is encouraged to record his/her biggest mistake each month in a folder on the company intranet. The cutoff date is the 25th of the month. A committee of three persons [selected by the employees] reviews the folder’s contents, and vote for the most glaring/rip roaring/awful mistake.

The owner of the mistake is greeted by a red carpet leading to his/her place of work on the 1st working day of the month, when he/she turns up in the morning. Then a bunch of colleagues and the review committee members serenade the owner of the mistake with a cake or two tickets for dinner, a show, whatever – the committee tries to find out what the person enjoys, and tailors the gift accordingly. The actual mistake is briefly described at the time of felicitation, and then published in the company newsletter.

Practical Impact

The response was a bit tepid to begin with, so I helped the organization pep things up for 3 to 4 months. By then, the idea had taken root, people realized that management walked its talk, and that it was not only alright to make mistakes, you could be rewarded and applauded for owning up. Now, the overarching culture in the region is very averse to owning up to mistakes, so this was a breakfrom not a breakthrough.

In about four years, the organization had attracted the likes of CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, etc. to set up shop. It was a huge success, so I jokingly suggested that they graduate from having mistake of the month to folly of the fortnight postings!

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August 13, 2010 at 1:34am

Raj Kumar

Hello Sam,

Great hack. Actually plucky, for you plucked it out of thin air, sowed it and watered it till it took root.

At first I thought it may help to keep an employee wise database of mistakes, accessible by the superiors. They could add any left out by the employee. The employee is free to decide his entry for the competition. Then I felt it may vitiate a good thing with a direct dose of seriousness.

However, it may be worthwhile to have a parallel competition for near misses where mistakes were made but saved by the team. I particularly like this for mistakes do at times open up opportunities. Besides, it would definitely play up the power of the team and the importance of sharing..

Wishing you progress,

Raj Kumar

August 15, 2010 at 6:41am

Bob Dick

Great process.

Reminds me of one of the characteristics of "high reliability organisations" in Karl Weick's work. In these organisations, too, admitting a mistake is rewarded so that mistakes are known about.

The impact comes from analysing the mistakes and spreading the learning from the analysis through the organisation.

-- Bob

August 17, 2010 at 12:38pm

Josse Kunst

Great agenda item for monthly departmental meetings, with a direct peer vote on the best mistake of the month with a Dinner or Cinema ticket for 2 as direct reward. Will create lots of energy and discussion, and creative learning....

August 15, 2010 at 3:34am

Jeff Mackanic

Hi Sam:
This is great.
Can you expand a little bit more on: people realized that management walked its talk.
I would think employees might be hesitant to admit mistakes.