IN2 Institute’s Post

We’ve all heard the quote “Failure is not an option.” But what if it was? Too often, fear gets in the way of innovation. Our Training Design Lead, Mary, recently signed up for an 8-week improv class and saw firsthand the effects of rewarding “failure”. On night one, a group of 14 strangers and 1 improv professional stood around in a circle, playing a game called “Zip Zap Zop”. ⚡ The game’s a simple, yet challenging one. Whoever starts, says “zip” while pointing at someone else in the circle. The person who was pointed at then (quickly) says “zap” while pointing at someone else, the next person does the same thing while saying “zop”. The pattern repeats, starting back at “zip”. The game continues until someone messes up. This is where things get interesting. When someone messed up, the whole class was instructed to cheer and clap. 👏 The game was played over and over again, and inevitably someone always messed up. As they continued to play the game, the celebration intensified with each mistake as people became comfortable with this new norm of cheering on failure. But something else happened here as well - each time they tried again, they got better at the game and the round went longer. Not only that, but you could physically see each individual’s confidence increase because they started to absorb the fact that if they happened to mess up, they wouldn’t feel the whole weight of that loss on their shoulders. They were all in it together, win or lose - making it so much more compelling to get up and try again. Failure is inevitable. Why not try giving it an enthusiastic clap? Your team and solutions will be stronger for it. #innovation #improv #failure #failforward #zipzapzop