As design thinkers, we must focus on the process and not just the end goal. This presentation will address the benefits of creating environments that allow teams to take risks and fail; through this failure, they become more resilient, more realistic, and more accountable. In turn, their future work is more thoughtful and they have a greater ability to be nimble, collaborate, and pivot away from ineffective ideas.

2. THE
BENEFITS OF
ITERATIVE
FAILURE. #thatconference #iterativefailure

3. Hello!
I’m Lauren Liss
Assistant Professor at Columbia College Chicago,
Interactive Arts & Media Department.
Maker of things, people, and change.

4. Some quick background
About how
I got here

5. Some quick background
About how
I got here
About the
problem

6. Some quick background
About how
I got here
About the
outcome
About the
problem

7. Why failure?
Or, why the struggle and process is just as
important as the outcome.

8. Challenging Assumptions
We need to do it more.

9. Challenging Assumptions
We need to do it more.
Asking for Help
We hate doing it.

10. Challenging Assumptions
We need to do it more.
Asking for Help
We hate doing it.
Total success!
Abandoning Bad Ideas
Most ideas are bad.

11. Challenging Assumptions
We need to do it more.
100%
Total success!
Asking for Help
We hate doing it.
Abandoning Bad Ideas
Most ideas are bad.
Becoming Resilient
We need to embrace mistakes.

12. 1.
Challenging
Assumptions
Like opinions,
which are like
something
else…
Assumptions,
we all have
them.

13. A faulty foundation of assumptions.
▣ We’ve defined the right audience
▣ We’ve defined the right problem
▣ We are creating something people will use
▣ We are creating something people want to use
▣ We understand their habits
▣ We understand the context of use
▣ We are just like our audience

14. ‘’
The Marshmallow
Challenge. Destroying
assumptions with 20
sticks of spaghetti, a
yard of tape, a yard of
string, and one big
marshmallow.
Activity

15. The Marshmallow
Challenge.
Teaches iteration,
collaboration, rapid
development, and
- most importantly -
addresses the idea that a
marshmallow is not
weightless.

16. Who does poorly
at this exercise?

17. Who does poorly
at this exercise?
MBAs

18. Who excels at this
exercise?

19. Who excels at this
exercise?
Kindergarteners

20. Want big impact?
Use big image.
On average,
kindergarteners’
structures measure
25 inches, while
engineers with
master’s degrees
average 24 inches.
Adults waste time
planning and
defining roles, kids
just go for it
through trial and
error. Kids are also
the only group that
regularly requests
more materials.
Source: Microsoft for
Work blog

21. 2.
Asking for Help
Why do we
always insist on
doing things on
our own?

22. Why are people afraid to ask for
help?
▣ Fear of appearing weak
▣ Fear of appearing incompetent
▣ Fear of appearing needy
▣ Fear of surrendering control
▣ Fear of feeling indebted
Source: New York Times

24. How do you create a culture of help?
▣ Set up expectations
▣ Define a methodology of asking for help
▣ Model asking for help frequently early on in
the process
▣ Accept that if you are in trouble, you probably
missed an ask for help opportunity

25. ‘’
Create your Ask for
Help method. Define
how to use it. Get your
team to buy into it.
Activity

26. From the Core Protocols:
1. Asker inquires of another,
“[Helper’s name], will you X?”
1. Asker expresses any specifics
or restrictions of the request.
1. Helper responds by saying
“Yes” or “No” or by offering
an alternative form of help.
Source: liveingreatness.com
For the Asker:
● Clearly define
what you are
asking for
● Accept no for an
answer
● Accept the help
● Do not apologize
for asking for
help
For the Helper:
● Say no if you
can’t add value
● Ask for more
information to
inform your help

27. 3.
Abandoning
Bad Ideas
The life-
changing
magic of letting
go of bad work,
no matter how
invested you
are.

28. Learning to let go of bad ideas
▣ Be skeptical, not eager
▣ Beware collective belief & cognitive bias

29. ‘’
Collective belief arises
because individual
belief is often
contagious, particularly
when it reinforces
others’ perceptions and
desires.
Source: Harvard Business Review, Isabelle Royer

30. Learning to let go of bad ideas
▣ Be skeptical, not eager
▣ Beware collective belief & cognitive bias
▣ Get outside perspective early and often

31. Learning to let go of bad ideas
▣ Be skeptical, not eager
▣ Beware collective belief & cognitive bias
▣ Get outside perspective early and often
▣ Engage with and value dissenting voices

32. Learning to let go of bad ideas
▣ Be skeptical, not eager
▣ Beware collective belief & cognitive bias
▣ Get outside perspective early and often
▣ Engage with and value dissenting voices
▣ Don’t become attached

33. Attachment leads
to hoarding

34. The hard part
You can’t, and
shouldn’t, do it for
them.
Get your team to ask why
The other hard part
They won’t always do
it. But the more they
ask why, the more it
will become ingrained
in their process.

35. ‘’
The Why Game. If
you’ve talked with a
toddler, you know how
this goes...
Activity

36. 1. Define one “toddler” per
group.
2. The whole group commits
to the process.
3. DIscuss ideas as normally,
allowing the toddler to ask
why as often as possible.
4. Answer “why” genuinely.

37. 1. Define one “toddler” per
group.
2. The whole group commits
to the process.
3. DIscuss ideas as normally,
allowing the toddler to ask
why as often as possible.
4. Answer “why” genuinely.
There is a
reason
toddlers
are so rad.
They think
differently
than adults.

38. 4.
Becoming
Resilient
Snap back from
failure like a
rubber band.

39. ‘’
If you are lucky enough to never
experience any sort of adversity,
we won’t know how resilient you
are.
It’s only when you’re faced with
obstacles, stress, and other
environmental threats that
resilience, or the lack of it,
emerges.
“How People Learn to Become Resilient”
The New Yorker, Maria Konnikova. February 2016

40. Martin Seligman - Learned Helplessness & Resilience
1965
Seligman and Maier define “learned
helplessness”
Three groups of dogs received minor
shocks - two groups were able to halt the
shocks, one group was not.
When placed in a new environment with a
short hurdle separating them from the
shocks, most of the third group of dogs
never attempted to jump over the hurdle.
2008
Seligman works with General Casey, US
Army Chief of Staff to address PTSD.
Seligman defined a spectrum of resilience
naturally present.
Created a resilience training program to
combat PTSD, utilizing PERMA: positive
emotion, engagement, relationships,
meaning, and accomplishment—the
building blocks of resilience and growth.

41. How do you become resilient?
▣ “Internal locus of control”
▣ Accept that failure happens, and that’s ok
▣ Don’t exaggerate trauma
▣ Do discuss what went wrong, and why
▣ Realize that failure is “temporary, local, and
changeable.” -Martin E.P. Seligman, Psychologist, University of Pennsylvania

42. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at
@laurenteresa
lliss@colum.edu