Sometimes I tend to shy away from failures and focus only on building on successes. This week however I had a huge reminder that failure needs to be embraced, and sometimes we all need to learn from what went wrong, just as much as we learn from what went right.
My reminder came in the form of a 60 page reading for my dramaturgy class. In short, it was the diary a dramaturg wrote of the production of what was supposed to be an innovative, form altering, statement on how Shakespeare wrote about dreams. Everything was in place; a world famous director, an incredible crew, talented designers, an experienced cast, and an innovative concept.
What followed was six months of chaos resulting in a big fat fail of a play. The critics panned it, very few like it, and it was written up as a disaster.
Why?
Well it was simple. One person didn’t do their job. One person didn’t ask how the process of the production would work. That one person who was responsible for asking along the way if the goals were being met. That one person was supposed to facilitate discussion among all those participating in the production. But it never happened.
Instead, all these world class professionals stepped on each others toes, got in heated conflict, most abandoned their original visions, and no one ended up happy.
I sort of wondered why my prof. put us through this arduous reading, just to come to this sad end, and then I realized the lesson was right in front of me. This failure needed to be learned from, we needed to see how that one person not doing their job caused such a huge failure. Now, while that person had a specific role to fill, it’s a good reminder: constantly evaluate process, check on the progress of goals, and step away from the project as much as necessary to ensure that these things happen.
So, although I am not wishing failure on anyone, I wish that everyone can learn from their failures, because by assessing what caused them, we get potent reminders of how we can improve.