Think about how most organizations respond to failure. Most companies do everything they can to prevent failures, to keep mistakes from happening.  They over-regulate and over-stipulate in an attempt to control every possible contingency in which employees might make mistakes.  And if a mistake happens, it often calls forth a “hide it, cover it up, don’t bring attention to it because we might get in trouble” mentality.

Companies end up paralyzing themselves, squelching any attempt at the new or different because of a general fear of failure.  But, as Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, says, “Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something different.”

Create a culture that allows failure

Perhaps our greatest challenge is to create a culture that allows freedom to fail and try again while tenaciously pushing everyone toward taking their best shots.

When employees are given opportunities to experiment, to try new things, to use their brains, their commitment soars. And even if some experiments or pilot tests or good plans violently executed blow up, so what?

Your company will still be light-years ahead of your competitors, because most of them continue to live within systems that would rather play it safe and remain mediocre than risk failure—even temporary failure.

Excerpt from Culture 24/7: Four Keys to Growing a Great Workplace by Dr. Jim Harris. Get it here.