What are your thoughts in the case of a moral failure, for instance in a work situation such as the one you are currently in?
Pat, moral failure within the context of a church staff is a very different topic from what I’m discussing here. As a church, holding to Biblical principles and a few thousand years of church history, the process for dealing with moral failure (and its fallout) is fairly clear.
Outside the context of the church, “moral failure” is, at best, a fluid concept and not easily defined. I’m not sure how an employer would enforce any kind of policy relating to moral failure (outside something like financial impropriety.) For example, if one of my co-workers was having sex with one of the secretaries, and they weren’t married, they’d be fired (as sex outside of marriage is a disqualification for ministry as defined by our employment standards.) In any of the other places I’ve worked, if one of my co-workers was having sex with one of the secretaries, they’d likely be given a high-five by the rest of their coworkers. Completely different context.
I don’t understand what the process for dealing with moral failure in the church is. I won’t burden you with the task of explaining it. I was just curious your thoughts. Thanks.
I agree that this is a great thought especially in light of the last company I worked for. Little available information regarding expectation level of success and little access to time of management. On top of that was absolutely no tolerance for failure. Very frustrating.
I could have been much more efficient in a workplace tolerant of failure and likely made less mistakes. However, for a workplace to adopt this kind of philosophy, it would need to clearly define the difference between failure and screw-ups. One is the result of effort and thoughtfulness (usually), and the other is the result of being careless and lazy.
About The Author
I'm a graphic designer and sometimes writer living in Anderson, South Carolina. I serve as the Design Director for NewSpring Church. I love Jesus, my wife, Levi's Jeans, good Tex-Mex, and 8oz glass bottle Coca-Cola Classic. On good days I love them roughly in that order. Email me.
More on Giving Employees Permission to Fail
Thu 07/09/09
What a fantastic work culture! Eric Dodds recounts this early interaction with Justine in an article on giving employees permission to fail and says, “I think part of my problem was that our society views failure primarily as a negative concept.” I think he’s completely right.
It’s not about failure for the sake of failure; I’d much rather learn from my successes. But if I’m trying new things, I won’t always succeed. I have to get used to failure being an integral part of the process of finding great solutions. I have to embrace that. Otherwise fear of failure will freeze me in my tracks before I can make anything extraordinary.
Avoidance of failure isn’t the same thing as success. If you want to change the world, but your company culture thinks success = no failure, it will not go well for you. Don’t underestimate the cultural peer pressure to silence disruption and avoid failure in most organizations. The human desire to never be wrong is the biggest enemy of innovation.