In the previous post we told you how, from the UNDP Accelerator Lab in Mexico, we worked to get rid of a taboo in the social sector: "The fear of sharing failure" and how this can help us develop better solutions to the challenges of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Here we share with you the learnings from the workshop.

Achieving a goal feels good, but designing intentional learning processes requires moving away from the current focus on seeing and rewarding outcomes exclusively and focusing on the process of learning. We need to maintain a state of active awareness and be able to recognize when we lose perspective, so that we can return. It's a little difficult at first, especially for those of us who, throughout our lives, have become accustomed to validating ourselves exclusively through the results we generate: passing the exam, passing the year, finishing a degree, getting a diploma, getting a job, etc. So, the next time you realize you're just looking for recognition: Stop doing it! There is evidence to suggest that paying attention and being pleased when learning something new increases people's effort, commitment and perseverance.

We must learn to measure failure as a fact and as a person. Some situation may have resulted in failure, but we must not let people feel that they are failure. The mental state of "failure" distorts our reality. In an experiment conducted in the United States, a group of people were put to kick balls at different distances from the goal. Then, they were asked to estimate the distance between the poles. Those who missed consistently felt that the space between the posts was narrower than those who scored. The lesson is that failing distorts the perception of our goals and makes them seem more difficult to achieve.

In spaces where people do not feel safe to be vulnerable, it is common for them to make defensive decisions. We call this "watching your back". It happens when, even knowing a better alternative for the project, people decide what protects them from the possible negative consequences. This increases costs and decreases equipment efficiency.

Another situation that surprised us was recognizing how many people suffer from impostor syndrome. This is a psychological phenomenon where people feel that, deep down, they are not living up to their responsibilities when this is not true. There are several types. The perfectionist is a person who is not satisfied unless they do everything 100% right, 100% of the time. The super human, the one who convinces her/himself that she/he is not up to the level of her/his colleagues and often pushes her/himself to work strenuous hours. The natural genius, feels the need to solve everything the first time and feels she/he has failed if she /he doesn't succeed. The soloist feels that asking for help will reveal her/his imperfections. Finally, the expert, the one who values her/himself according to the subjects she/he masters and feels that she/he will never have mastery over enough subjects to live up to her/his position. All of these profiles reflect situations in which people hold themselves to impossible standards and, when they fail, reinforce their sense of themselves as impostors.

Two types of mentality: fixed and growth mindset

In short, science distinguishes between two types of people: those with a growth mindset and those with a fixed mindset. The first ones believe that it is possible to learn anything they set their minds to if they put enough time and effort into it. The second ones lack this conviction, they believe that their potential is fixed and it is not possible to be more than what they already are. As it turns out, this difference in mindset is enough to generate observable change.

In an experiment with low-scoring students, half the group was constantly told that, if they worked hard, they could get smarter, and the other half were not. The intervention group significantly increased their scores over the year compared to the control group. People with a fixed mindset give up more easily in the face of obstacles, while those with a growth mindset see them as a way to experience and learn, a situation that builds resilience.

For all this, we must focus on eliminating spaces of psychological harm and turning them into spaces of psychological safety. Psychological harm spaces occur when people are afraid to admit their mistakes and choose to blame others. In this situation, it is more difficult for alternative points of view to be socialized and one suffers from the "common knowledge effect", which is the tendency for information known by the majority to outweigh new points of view in decisions. On the contrary, when people work in spaces of psychological safety, they are able to admit their mistakes and share their failures, which allows more ideas on the table and better decision-making.

What can you and your team do?

In practice you can start with a very simple exercise that will take you and your team no more than 30 minutes. Meet in small groups (5 maximum). Each person must think of a failure that, in less than 3 minutes, he/she will share with the group following the next structure:

1. Introduction: Who was I at that time?
2. Context: What was the project about?
3. Climax: What did I do that went wrong?
4. Closing: What did I learn?

To perform this exercise optimally, it is important that people try to be humble, vulnerable, and that spaces to foster empathy are created. Also, that they seek to share more than teach, to take responsibility for their mistakes, not to blame others and to focus on what they learned. Don't look for the story to end in success. At the end of the round, you must vote for the best story. As an incentive, you can give a small prize (a chocolate, not paying the bill, etc.) to the winner. Repeat this exercise periodically and you will see that over time people become interested in opening up to vulnerability.

You can also use this channel to share with us. Do you know other practical examples of how to create spaces of psychological safety? Share with us and we will help you socialize it. At the Accelerator Lab we are creating the world's largest and most agile learning network on sustainable development challenges.