How do you encourage employees to experiment and learn from failures?

I agree and the container needs to be set up by the Manager/Leader to tell them you want them to experiment and what decision making process and boundaries they need to be clear on before moving forward, if any. This boosts the empowerment even more if this is clear and they feel more confident that they 'own' the decision to experiment within certain boundaries.

Professional successes and failures will occur. As a leader, it’s important to remind teams that both outcomes present learning lessons for continued improvement. Whether big or small, celebrating wins is great for morale and continued growth. However, it’s imperative for teams to understand that everyone stumbles at some point, including the most successful people. Redefining failures is key. Rather than allow setbacks or the fear of failure to hold them back, team members should embrace these outcomes as learning opportunities. By motivating teams to pivot and identify areas for improvement, leaders help reframe failures as part of the journey to accomplish a goal.

I agree that we need to celebrate successes and failures of the team, and the tone needs to be set at the top. When was the last time an executive admitted to a failure in your organization? True innovative companies embrace a fail fast mentality, learn from their errors, and move onto the next project. If you are starting a new culture of innovation in your team, department, or whole organization you must get your most senior managers to buy in and become vulnerable. Not an easy task, but the results will be amazing if your teams feel comfortable to fail.

Stop labeling failure as an automatically negative thing. Foster a culture that not only accepts but embraces failure as a natural part of the learning process. Instead of hiding or feeling ashamed of failure, employees should feel empowered to take risks, learn from their mistakes, and then apply those learnings to future projects. Executives should model this behavior; if employees can see that their leadership team genuinely feels and behaves this way, they'll begin to do so as well.

Treat the person, not the problem. I think that is something that all managers, supervisors, and leaders need to think about. It may be easy to go into a situation and look at what's happening to address the supposed problem. Disciplinary actions are taken and we move on. That addressed the problem but not the person. There are times when the organization does not set a person up for success in training, professional development, or even the scope of their responsibilities to begin with. When we treat the person, we are not just kicking the can down the road to be someone else's problem, we are prioritizing personal development and realizing that all business is people centric.