Addressing Hidden Errors to Drive Innovation

Most companies don’t fail because of mistakes; they fail because of how leaders respond to them. Here’s how to turn errors into innovation 👇 ⚙️ 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝗸, “𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽?” 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝗸, “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻?” That one shift changes everything. As you step into a new week, here’s a mindset worth carrying forward 👇 A manager once reacted to an error with: “𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹?” Everyone went quiet. The next day, her director faced a similar issue, but asked: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻?” (𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.) Within minutes, the team uncovered a missing approval step in their workflow. No one got defensive. No one hid. They fixed the process and prevented the mistake from happening again. That’s the difference between a 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 and a 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Because in business (and life), 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. When something goes wrong, most leaders ask, 👉 “Who is responsible?” That question fixes nothing. It only teaches your team to hide problems. True leadership shifts focus from 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 🔄 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟱-𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 Here’s how to train your managers to ask smarter: “What did the system allow to happen?” 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 Start with: “Thank you for flagging this.” → Builds safety. Stops defensiveness. Rewards honesty. 2️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝘆 (𝗬𝗲𝘁) Ask: “Can you walk me through the steps that led to this outcome?” → Facts over feelings. You’re tracing actions, not intent. 3️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 Ask: “Was there a checkpoint, policy, or tool that should’ve caught this earlier, but didn’t?” → The pivot — from people to process. 4️⃣ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 Ask: “Knowing what you know now, what’s the one change we should make to prevent this next time?” → Empowers ownership of the solution, not the failure. 5️⃣ 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘅 Rule: Every systemic fix must be documented, shared, and recognized. Why: It proves mistakes are valuable learning tools, not punishable offenses. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲: When you remove the fear of failure, you unlock the innovation hiding behind it. Great leaders build systems that catch errors — not people to blame. Your Challenge: Before closing this week, reflect on one mistake your team faced. Skip the “Who.” Try the 5-Step Shift, and see what new insights your system reveals. 💭 What’s one leadership habit you’ve seen that turns mistakes into growth moments? Wishing you a fantastic and fulfilling week ahead. 💪✨ 📸 Photo credit: The creator

Innovation efforts often stall before they start because organizations misread their own unreadiness. They mistake successful pilots for true adoption, ignore the emotional scars of past failures, and the structural friction embedded in processes, governance, incentives, and culture. Entrenched vendors exploit this by offering “safe” roadmaps that optimize existing workflows but limit genuine transformation. Recognizing the realities of unreadiness and addressing them through a company-owned strategy and independent architectural thinking is not just essential for innovation in general; it is the single most important prerequisite for implementing AI productively, rather than theatrically, in the years ahead. #InnovationReadiness #InnovationUnreadiness #AIReadiness cc Gregory LaBlanc at UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET)

An engineer once told me, “I didn’t share the solution because if it failed, they’d think I’m incompetent.” They later discovered their idea would’ve saved 200 hours/month. The cost of silence? $1.2M in wasted time. The Real Enemy Isn’t Failure – Fear of judgment kills 12x more ideas than actual failure (Harvard Study). – 82% of professionals admit they’d rather underperform than risk criticism. – Teams that normalize mistakes innovate 47% faster (MIT Sloan). Break the Judgment Cycle → Celebrate “noble failures” publicly Host monthly “Lessons Learned” showcases. Example: NASA shares “Failure Chronicles” to normalize iterative progress. → Create judgment-free zones Anonymous idea boards for early-stage concepts. “No titles” brainstorming sessions where interns and VPs debate equally. → Reframe feedback Replace “Why did this fail?” with “What did we learn?” Train managers to say “Thank you for risking that” before critiques. Proof in Courage Companies praising failure see 31% higher employee engagement (Gallup). 74% of breakthrough innovations come from “psychological safe” teams (Google). Leaders who admit mistakes inspire 6x more loyalty (Deloitte). Judgment is a choice. Courage is contagious. #Leadership #GrowthMindset #Innovation

3 hidden biases quietly sabotage your top talent. Not because you’re a bad leader. But because of invisible patterns hardwired into how we evaluate people. When it comes to spotting future leaders, we all have blind spots. Leadership consulting firms have been trying to crack the “potential code” for decades. Yet research shows traditional models fail to predict who will actually succeed. Why? Not because of bad intentions. But because of biases we don’t even realise we’re using. Here are 3 that may be shaping your talent pipeline: 1. The Passion Paradox ↳ When certain team members show enthusiasm, you label them "committed" ↳ When others show the same passion, you see them as "overly emotional" ↳ Research suggests passion is judged unequally, creating significant disparities in who gets labeled ‘high potential. 2. The Visibility Illusion ↳ 73% of employees believe managers aren't aware of their full contributions ↳ You naturally notice work done in your presence (or in your style) ↳ Remote, quiet, or differently-structured work is systematically undervalued 3. The Familiarity Filter ↳ You unconsciously favour people who remind you of yourself ↳ Similar backgrounds, communication styles, and thinking patterns feel "right" ↳ This shrinks your talent pool to mirror-images of current leadership The cost? McKinsey's research shows companies with more diverse leadership are better positioned for innovation and long-term performance. But it starts with fixing how we spot potential. How forward-thinking leaders break these bias patterns: 1. Create objective potential criteria ↳ Define potential by specific behaviors, not subjective feelings ↳ Example: "Takes initiative to solve problems without prompting" vs. "Shows leadership qualities" 2. Implement structured contribution tracking ↳ Have team members document their impact weekly ↳ Review these logs before making development decisions ↳ This captures valuable work happening outside your direct view 3. Diversify your talent spotters ↳ Never let one person alone determine who has "potential" ↳ Create talent review panels with diverse perspectives ↳ This prevents single blind spots from becoming systemic barriers 4. Separate performance from potential ↳ High performance ≠ High potential ↳ Performance = Current results ↳ Potential = Ability to succeed in more complex roles The strongest leaders don't just identify the obvious stars. They build systems that reveal the invisible ones. Which bias might be limiting the potential you're able to see in your team? ♻️ Repost to help leaders identify hidden talent ➕ Follow Florence Divet ☀️ for more leadership insights 📌 For access to all my infographics, join my free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ePitBSZv

In healthcare, we often say, “We learn from our mistakes.” But that learning can only happen if mistakes are visible. Using the 5 Whys method, here’s a deeper reflection on why errors may sometimes be hidden: 1. Why are errors hidden? Because people are afraid to report them. 2. Why are they afraid to report? Because they worry about being blamed, shamed, or penalized. 3. Why does reporting trigger fear of blame? Because the culture equates error with failure, rather than viewing it as a signal to examine systems and processes. 4. Why is error seen as failure? Because psychological safety is lacking—there isn’t a shared understanding that reporting helps everyone grow. 5. Why is psychological safety lacking? Because leadership and systems may be more focused on avoiding reputational harm than embracing vulnerability for the sake of learning. This leads to normalization of noncompliance, silence, and missed opportunities for improvement. But the truth is: patient safety depends on visibility. Errors are not signs of weakness—they are signposts for change. We must create spaces where learning is safe, reporting is encouraged, and blame is replaced by inquiry. Because hiding errors doesn’t protect anyone. Learning from them is what truly does. #PatientSafety #SafetyCulture #JustCulture #HealthcareLeadership #5Whys #QualityImprovement #SpeakUpForSafety

"The most dangerous thing in the world is to diagnose and treat a symptom while ignoring the cause." – Dr. John Mack, Psychologist and Author. "Before you let people blunder around reinventing the process every time someone gets the urge to innovate, it makes sense to understand it first.” - Rita McGrath "Organisations often focus on what’s easy to see, the symptoms, rather than investing in uncovering the deeper systemic issues that are the true barriers to success." – Peter Senge "Understanding the underlying structure of a problem allows for more strategic and effective solutions." - Clayton Christensen I’ve suffered from recurring elbow pain for years. I've tried various treatments—physical therapy, stretches, rest, and even modifications to my exercise routine. These approaches provided only temporary relief, and my symptoms often returned, sometimes worse than before. Traditional treatments failed to address the deeper issue: a nerve in my elbow was being aggravated due to a subtle misalignment in my shoulder and rib cage. This imbalance caused compensatory movements in my arm and forearm, placing additional stress on the nerve. No elbow-focused therapy could relieve the pain until the true root cause—the misalignment—was identified and addressed. My experience mirrors a common misstep in organizational leadership: misdiagnosing the root cause of a problem and focusing on symptoms instead. When leaders address symptoms—like a lack of employee creativity—without tackling underlying systemic issues, they risk aggravating the problem. Misaligned incentives can discourage innovation by fostering a culture of risk aversion. For example, employees may avoid proposing bold ideas due to fear of failure or career repercussions. The reward system may unintentionally value safe, predictable behaviors over the creative risk-taking that drives innovation. This recurring challenge is the topic of our latest episode of The Innovation Show with the author of "On the Folly of Rewarding A,While Hoping for B", Steve Kerr. Take, for example, the airline industry and “on-time departures”, defined as planes leaving the gate on schedule. This metric often incentivizes airlines to move planes away from gates, even if it means passengers sit idle on the tarmac, sacrificing customer satisfaction for a flawed operational definition. As Steve Kerr highlights, organizations must reward the behaviors they truly want, not just those that are easy to measure. In both personal health and organizational strategy, success lies in accurate diagnosis and thoughtful intervention. Whether alleviating chronic pain or fostering innovation, the solution is the same: go beyond the symptoms to uncover and address the true root cause. Join us at The Reinvention Summit April 29th and 30th for an in-depth exploration of Reinvention on organisational, personal and even country level. https://lnkd.in/edYZAaYD #ThursdayThoughts #Innovation #Reinvention #Transformation

I once worked for a company where the CEO wouldn’t allow people to discuss failure. Mistakes weren’t seen as learning opportunities—they were liabilities. If something didn’t work, it was quietly swept under the rug, never to be mentioned again. At first glance, that might seem like a commitment to excellence. But in reality, it created a culture of fear, silence, and stagnation. Now, let’s apply that to healthcare. Imagine a hospital where frontline staff are afraid to report errors, or a health insurer that buries failed initiatives rather than analyzing what went wrong. That’s not just a business problem—it’s a patient care problem. Will Rogers put it best: “Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgment.” In healthcare, experience is everything. But if we refuse to acknowledge failures, how do we ever gain the experience that leads to better judgment? Here’s why failure must be part of the process: 🚫 No Lessons Learned – In healthcare, every misstep has the potential to save—or cost—lives. If we can’t talk about what went wrong, we can’t fix it. The best health systems use failure as fuel for improvement, not something to be hidden. 🚫 Risk Aversion Kills Innovation – Fear-based cultures don’t push boundaries. In a world where medical breakthroughs come from trial and error, playing it safe isn’t an option. Think about the speed of COVID-19 vaccine development—without a willingness to take risks, we’d still be waiting. 🚫 Lack of Psychological Safety – When doctors, nurses, and administrators feel they can’t speak up about problems, bad processes persist, and patient outcomes suffer. The best ideas—and the most urgent warnings—die in silence. Now, contrast that with organizations that embrace failure as part of growth: ✅ Mayo Clinic’s Culture of Safety – They encourage staff to report errors, not to punish, but to learn and improve. That mindset saves lives. ✅ Cleveland Clinic’s Patient Experience Evolution – They didn’t always get it right, but by openly addressing past shortcomings, they’ve become a global leader in patient-centered care. ✅ Johns Hopkins’ Checklist Revolution – After a preventable ICU death, they didn’t hide the failure. They created a simple safety checklist that has since saved thousands of lives worldwide. The best healthcare organizations aren’t failure-free—they are failure-resilient. If your culture discourages discussing failure, it’s discouraging learning, innovation, and progress. Healthcare can’t afford that. It’s time to change the narrative: Failure isn’t the enemy—stagnation is. Because as Will Rogers reminded us, good judgment comes from experience—and experience comes from poor judgment.

Avoiding the Data Landmines Sabotaging Your AI Strategy AI strategies can quickly fail when organizations overlook the "hidden" data issues that undermine their effectiveness. These data landmines, like inconsistent datasets and unseen biases, can quietly sabotage AI’s potential, leading to poor decisions and lost opportunities. Recommendation 1: Perform Regular Data Audits: Implement periodic reviews of your data pipelines to identify hidden inconsistencies or bias that could affect AI performance. This allows you to address issues before they impact decision-making. Recommendation 2: Invest in Data Quality Automation Tools: Automate data cleansing and validation processes to ensure your datasets are consistently accurate and up-to-date. Real-time data quality checks help mitigate the risk of silent data errors in AI models.

The Hidden Factory: The Costs Leaders Don’t See. 👀 Every organization has a factory it doesn’t talk about. It doesn’t produce new products or services rather, it produces waste. The “hidden factory” lives in rework loops, duplicate approvals, waiting, version chasing, excess motion, and defects. It’s the unseen cost center buried in cycle times, consuming resources while leaders believe their systems are running efficiently. A real world example, on-time delivery looked healthy at the surface. But when we mapped the process end-to-end, we discovered nearly 65% of total lead time was spent on rework, redundant hand-offs, and waiting for sign-offs. That hidden factory was costing them over $4 million a year in wasted labor, overtime, and missed opportunities. When we applied Lean tools like value stream mapping, first-pass yield analysis, and standard work design the picture changed dramatically. Lead time fell by 30%, overtime costs dropped, and the company freed up capacity equal to an entire additional shift without hiring a single new person. The impact went beyond the numbers. Employees who once felt trapped in endless rework loops were suddenly energized. By eliminating the waste, we gave them back their time and their pride. They weren’t just fixing errors they were creating value. This is the lesson leaders must face: if you are not addressing your hidden factory, it is addressing you. It erodes margins, drains morale, and undermines customer trust. Lean isn’t just about what you can see on a shop floor. It’s about shining a light on what you cannot see, the silent costs, the bottlenecks no one talks about, the frustrations employees feel but rarely voice. When leaders are brave enough to expose the hidden factory, they don’t just save money. They unlock capacity, rebuild trust, and create organizations designed for excellence. Because the real factory you should fear isn’t the one you see every day. It’s the one that hides in plain sight.

Your "heroes" might actually be killing your productivity—and you can't see it happening. Hidden factories—the invisible rework operations in every plant—consume manufacturing capacity while hiding from your metrics. They're the undocumented workarounds that bypass standard processes: the extra inspection because no one trusts the gauge, the "temporary" fix now in its third year, the work-around that never made it into the procedure. Often created by well-intentioned employees just trying to ship good product, these shadow operations silently erode throughput and margins. The cost? Delayed output, frustrated teams, compromised quality, and audit exposure. Worse, they mask the root problems from management—preventing you from measuring what matters and launching the process improvements you need. Remember: Without standardization, there can be no improvement. Here's how to eliminate hidden factories: 1. Surface the invisible. Gemba walks aren't about inspection—they're about asking "What makes your job harder?" Your frontline teams know where the workarounds live. 2. Fix root causes, not symptoms. Apply DMAIC or structured problem-solving to eliminate the need for workarounds. Address why the temporary fix was needed in the first place. 3. Reward transparency. When firefighting gets more recognition than problem escalation, you've incentivized hiding issues. Make visible problem-solving the path to recognition. Operational excellence requires making the invisible visible. Create a culture where surfacing problems is celebrated, not punished. Where standardization enables innovation rather than constraining it. Because you can't improve what you can't see. Comment below: How have hidden factories sabotaged your operation? #Manufacturing #OperationalExcellence #LeanSixSigma #GrossMargin #ContinuousImprovement #ProcessImprovement