In Chapter 2, we highlighted how entrepreneurial projects can boost individuals’ psychological well-being. That is, the more a project satisfies an individual's psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and belongingness, the more important the project is to him or her. Although the importance of a project enhances the motivation for success, it also means that if the project fails, the individual will have a more negative emotional reaction (i.e., grief over the loss of an entrepreneurial project [see Chapter 2]). From the hedonic perspective of psychology (Kahneman, Diener, and Schwarz Reference Kahneman, Diener and Schwarz1999), an individual's subjective well-being is enhanced by the absence of negative affect (Diener and Lucas Reference Diener, Lucas, Kahneman, Diener and Schwarz1999). Therefore, people often engage in attempts to avoid and/or quickly eliminate negative emotions in order to return to a high level of subjective well-being.
However, a different perspective of well-being leads to an emphasis on a different outcome for responses to project failure. Rather than focusing on happiness (including the absence of negative affect and the maintenance of self-worth), the eudaimonic approach focuses on “meaning and self-realization” (Ryan and Deci Reference Ryan and Deci2001: 141). This approach suggests that not all actions and reactions that reduce negative emotions also promote personal growth (McGregor and Little Reference McGregor and Little1998; Ryan and Deci Reference Ryan and Deci2001). For example, protection from threats to perceived self-worth (e.g., those arising from project failure) can reduce or eliminate negative emotions but can simultaneously be maladaptive (for reviews see Blaine and Crocker Reference Blaine and Crocker1993; Crocker and Park Reference Crocker and Park2004). Such is the case, for instance, when “people wanting to maintain high self-esteem … dismiss negative feedback as unreliable or biased, trivializing failures or attributing them to external causes. As a consequence, they may take less personal responsibility for harmful actions and develop an inaccurate self-concept, hindering growth and change” (Neff and Vonk Reference Neff and Vonk2009: 24).
Thus, cognitions and actions to protect feelings of self-worth in the face of failure can enhance subjective well-being, but can also lead to a rigid and closed mindset that diminishes and rejects alternative explanations (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, and Sulloway Reference Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski and Sulloway2003; Taris Reference Taris2000) for why a project failed. In doing so, the pursuit of subjective well-being can create obstacles, including blind spots (Sutcliffe and Weick Reference Sutcliffe and Weick2003) that obstruct learning. In this chapter, we explore how to overcome some of these blind spots. Specifically, we discuss what self-compassion is; how it fits into the eudaimonic conceptualization of well-being; and how it is achieved across levels, including individual, group, and organizational levels. First, we discuss an overarching model for this chapter. Second, we discuss the individual aspects of the model, including the relationship between self-compassion and learning from failure. Finally, we discuss general implications and offer suggestions for future research.
A self-compassion model of learning from failure
Model overview
In the sections that follow, we develop a multilevel model of self-compassion as an approach to learning from failure, which is illustrated in Figure 3.1. Our model differentiates the influence of self-compassion and learning outcomes within and across levels. At the individual level, a person's self-compassion positively influences his or her learning from failure, which is mediated by positive emotions. At the organizational level, self-compassion influences organizational learning from failure, which is mediated by collective positive emotions. Three constructs link the individual and organizational levels: (1) self-compassion (i.e., self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness), (2) positive emotions, and (3) learning (i.e., breadth of attention and array of resources). These constructs are applicable at both the individual and the organizational levels and are, therefore, referred to as isomorphic (House, Rousseau, and Thomashunt Reference House, Rousseau and Thomashunt1995; Huy Reference Huy1999).
Figure 3.1: A self-compassionate model of learning from failure
In developing our model, we make a number of assumptions that establish important boundary conditions for the model. Consistent with other organizational theory, including research on compassion, we acknowledge the organization as an entity. As argued by Kanov et al. (Reference Kanov, Maitlis, Worline, Dutton, Frost and Lilius2004: 816), “we are not suggesting that organizations are entities that like individuals, literally notice, feel, and respond to pain; nor are we suggesting that organizational compassion is a mere aggregation of compassion among individuals. Rather organizational compassion involves a set of social processes in which noticing, feeling and responding to pain are shared among a set of organizational members.” We make a similar assumption for organizational self-compassion.Footnote 1 Further, we assume that entities (i.e., individuals and organizations) are heterogeneous in self-compassion, and we explore the consequences of that heterogeneity but not its antecedents. As such, the processes by which self-compassion becomes legitimated, propagated, and coordinated are outside the bounds of the current chapter but are worthy of future research.
Self-compassion
The concept of self-compassion (at the individual level) comes from Buddhist philosophy (Bennett-Goleman Reference Bennett-Goleman2002; Rosenberg Reference Rosenberg1999; Salzberg Reference Salzberg2004) and represents part of a larger effort to build on Buddhist notions to inform the Western understanding of suffering and psychological well-being (for a review, see Wallace and Shapiro Reference 74Wallace and Shapiro2006). Self-compassion in the context of failure events refers to an individual's emotional response to his or her negative emotional reaction to failure that involves feeling care and kindness toward oneself, recognizing that one's experience is part of the common human experience, and understanding one's inadequacies and flaws in a non-judgmental way (adapted from Neff Reference Neff2003a). Self-compassion at the individual level involves the dimensions of self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness (Neff Reference Neff2003a; Neff Reference Neff2003k) and has been found to be positively associated with personal growth. For example, self-compassion is positively associated with happiness, optimism, curiosity, and connectedness (Neff and Vonk Reference Neff and Vonk2009), which in turn function as mechanisms for enabling growth despite possible setbacks or negative events.
In a series of experiments, Leary, et al. (Reference Leary, Tate, Adams, Batts Allen and Hancock2007) found that self-compassion buffers people against the impact of negative events; that is, more self-compassionate participants provided more accurate self-evaluations that were less tainted by both self-criticism and defensive self-enhancement than those who were less self-compassionate. After a negative event, individuals are at higher risk of either overly criticizing themselves – resulting in adverse outcomes, such as depression – or of avoiding key signals that preceded the negative event because they instead focus on defensively enhancing their self-worth (Neff Reference Neff2003k). In contrast to harsh self-criticism, Leary et al. (Reference Leary, Tate, Adams, Batts Allen and Hancock2007: 887) found that after experimentally inducing self-compassion, people were able to “acknowledge their role in negative events without feeling over-whelmed with negative emotions.” Furthermore, the absence of feeling overwhelmed was not merely due to higher self-esteem or the avoidance of key signals of the failure, but was rather a healthy confrontation with negative events and their causes. Importantly, an individual's self-compassion is distinct from self-esteem. Neff and Vonk (Reference Neff and Vonk2009) found that relative to self-esteem, self-compassion is more positively associated with stable feelings of self-worth and is more negatively associated with social comparison, public self-consciousness, self-ruination, anger, and the need for cognitive closure. Similarly, Neff (Reference Neff2003k) found that self-esteem (i.e., positive feelings about oneself and believing that one is valued by others (Leary and MacDonald Reference Leary, MacDonald, Leary and Tangney2003) correlates with characteristics like narcissism, hubris, and self-enhancing illusions, whereas self-compassion does not. These findings suggest that self-compassion is likely to facilitate a healthy recovery (including learning) from unpleasant events.
Based on the recognition that compassion exists at the organizational level (e.g. Dutton, Worline, Frost, and Lilius Reference Dutton, Worline, Frost and Lilius2006) and that individuals can direct compassion toward the self, we offer the construct of organizational self-compassion. We define organizational self-compassion in the context of failure events as the collective emotional response of organizational members to negative emotional reactions to organizational failures that involve collectively feeling care and kindness toward the organization and its members, recognizing that these negative emotions are part of organizational experiences, and understanding – in a non-judgmental way – the inadequacies and missteps of the organization and its members. As indicated in Figure 3.1, we anticipate that both organizational- and individual-level self-compassion are represented by three components: (1) self-kindness, (2) common humanity, and (3) mindfulness.
Self-kindness
Self-kindness is the first component of self-compassion. At the individual level, self-kindness involves “extending kindness and understanding to oneself rather than harsh judgment and self-criticism” (Neff Reference Neff2003a: 89) at the onset of a failure event. When faced with a failure, an individual high in self-kindness tries to be understanding and patient toward those aspects of his or her personality he or she does not like, gives him- or herself the caring and tenderness needed when going through a very hard time, is tolerant of his or her flaws and inadequacies, and tries to be loving toward him- or herself when feeling emotional pain (Neff Reference Neff2003k: 231). Self-kindness does not mean that one is content with his or her flaws or is passive toward the learning needed to eliminate future failures and/or minimize the effect of failures. It encourages action but does so with gentleness and patience (Neff Reference Neff2003a). This gentleness and patience is important despite the immediate changes necessitated by a failure event. Individuals who are less self-kind are more self-judgmental; intolerant of their own flaws; and tough on themselves when times are difficult (Neff Reference Neff2003k), such as when experiencing project failure. Without self-kindness, the response to failure is harsh self-criticism for not meeting ideal standards, which in turn inhibits an individual's ability to achieve personal growth (e.g., learning from the experience). For example, harsh self-condemnation exacerbates the pain and sense of failure that an individual feels when things go wrong (Blatt, Quinlan, Chevron, McDonald, and Zuroff Reference Blatt, Quinlan, Chevron, McDonald and Zuroff1982). That is, it adds additional anxiety to an already emotional event. Harsh self-criticism can lead to ruminations that escalate negative emotions (Nolen-Hoeksema Reference Nolen-Hoeksema1991) and increase grief over project loss.
Like individuals, organizations can direct kindness externally (to others) and internally. In terms of being kind to others, while there is some dispute over whether corporate social responsibility, corporate philanthropy, and/or corporate donations represent a strategy for enhancing firm performance (Godfrey Reference Godfrey2005), it appears that at least some organizations do good above and beyond what is expected (Logsdon and Wood Reference Logsdon and Wood2002). That is, some organizations are benevolent and kind to their employees (Lloyd Reference Lloyd1990; Milliman, Czaplewski, and Ferguson Reference Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson2001; Schulman Reference Schulman1999) and members of society (Cowton Reference Cowton1987; Edmondson and Carroll Reference Edmondson and Carroll1999; Shaw and Post Reference Shaw and Post1993). Thus, we develop the concept of organizational self-kindness in the context of failure events, which refers to the collective emotional response of organizational members to negative emotional reactions to organizational failures that involves collectively feeling care and kindness toward the organization and its members.
Common humanity
Common humanity is the second component of self-compassion. Individual common humanity refers to “perceiving one's experiences as part of the larger human experience rather than seeing them as separating and isolating” (Neff Reference Neff2003a: 85). Experiencing failure with a common-humanity perspective means that when feeling inadequate in some way, an individual reminds him- or herself that most people experience feelings of inadequacy, that one's failings are part of the human condition, that there are many other people in the world feeling the same way, and that these difficulties are a part of life that everyone goes through (Neff Reference Neff2003k: 231). Without such a perspective, actors are likely to believe that they are the only individuals who feel bad after a negative event and ignore any interconnectedness with others (Neff Reference Neff2003k). Feelings of isolation cause additional anxiety and exacerbate the negative emotions already generated by the failure event.
As is the case with individuals, organizations can recognize that they are part of a common humanity in response to others’ negative emotions and, as we develop later, their own failings. Indeed, the notion of being a corporate citizen acknowledges an organization's sense of belonging to a community (Logsdon and Wood Reference Logsdon and Wood2002; Matten, Crane, and Chapple Reference Matten, Crane and Chapple2003). Recognition of common humanity may result in a feeling of social duty to help others, an ethical obligation to help others, and/or a recognition that the organization depends on society for its continued existence (Garriga and Melé Reference Garriga and Melé2004). Common humanity creates a feeling that the organization must look after its stakeholders (Emshoff and Freeman Reference Emshoff and Freeman1978) and members of the larger community (Donaldson and Dunfee Reference Donaldson and Dunfee2000; Logsdon and Wood Reference Logsdon and Wood2002). To the extent that organizations acknowledge common humanity in relation to their own (collective) negative reaction to failure, they demonstrate organizational common humanity. Thus, we develop the concept of organizational common humanity in the context of failure events, which refers to the collective emotional response of organizational members to negative emotional reactions to organizational failures that involve collectively recognizing that these negative feelings are part of organizations’ experiences. For example, when facing a major project failure, an organization with common humanity can emphasize that most organizations face such conditions at some time in their lives and that when this happens, most organizations have a collective negative emotional reaction. That is, when an organization is able to recognize its current position and grief as part of normal “organizational life,” it is able to remain connected to others despite a failure event. As another example, an organization might emphasize how it overcame similar events in its past and how it is resilient and can defy temporary failures in pursuit of broader successes or accomplishments.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness, in the context of self-compassion at the individual level, refers to “holding painful thoughts and feelings in balanced awareness rather than over-identifying with them” (Neff Reference Neff2003a: 85). While mindfulness is often considered to involve “directing attention toward the present moment in an open-minded (non-judgmental) way,” mindfulness as a dimension of self-compassion involves directing attention in an open-hearted way (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, and Finkel Reference Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek and Finkel2008: 1096, emphasis added). Open-hearted mindfulness centers on the emotions involved in the present moment with a focus on increasing feelings of caring, warmth, and positivity toward the self and others (see also Fredrickson et al. Reference Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek and Finkel2008; Salzberg Reference Salzberg1997). Those who are mindful try to keep their emotions in balance when facing a negative event, approach their feelings with curiosity and openness, and maintain a balanced view of the negative situation even when something painful happens (Neff Reference Neff2003k: 232). In contrast, those who are less mindful “tend to obsess and fixate on everything that is wrong,” “blow the incident out of proportion,” generally become “carried away” with their feelings arising from a negative event, and are “consumed by feelings of inadequacy” (Neff Reference Neff2003k: 232). Mindfulness does not involve self-evaluation or considerations of self-worth. Indeed, when one is mindful, the sense of self “softens or disappears” (Martin Reference Martin1997: 292) to provide the sort of psychological distance between self-worth and the adversity that enables the non-judgmental acceptance of present-moment experiences (Bishop et al. Reference Bishop, Lau, Shapiro, Carlson, Anderson, Carmody, Segal, Abbey, Speca and Velting2004). This is not to say that mindfulness denies or eliminates the generation of negative emotions over project failure. On the contrary, painful thoughts and emotions generated by project failure are accepted and approached with curiosity as part of an open-hearted awareness.
Mindfulness at the organizational level is well documented in the organizing literature, particularly as it relates to high-reliability organizations (Weick, Sutcliffe, and Obstfeld Reference Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld1999; Weick and Sutcliffe Reference Weick and Sutcliffe2011). Although the notion of mindfulness represented in the organizing literature has focused on its cognitive aspects (e.g., Fiol and O'Connor Reference Fiol and O'Connor2003; Krieger Reference Krieger2005; Langer Reference Langer1989), there has been some recognition of the potential role of the emotional side of organizational mindfulness. As it relates to self-compassion in the context of failure events, we offer the following definition of organizational (emotional) mindfulness: the collective emotional response of organizational members to negative emotional reactions to organizational failures that involves collectively understanding – in a non-judgmental way – the inadequacies and mis-steps of the organization and its members. We anticipate that just as individual mindfulness following a failure event can result in the generation of positive emotions, organizations that systematically cultivate an environment of open-hearted mindfulness are more likely to enhance positive emotions within the organization, which will in turn influence responses (i.e., learning) to failures or setbacks. This reasoning is consistent with the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson2001) and recent empirical research (Arimitsu and Hofmann Reference Arimitsu and Hofmann2015; Fredrickson et al. Reference Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek and Finkel2008).
Self-compassion and learning from failure
Self-compassion (i.e., self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness) likely contributes to learning from failure experiences. Although there are many learning mechanisms, we focus on two in particular because they capture many of the common aspects in both the psychological and organizational literature. Specifically, learning is enhanced by a broad perception and a broad array of resources. In the next sections, we first substantiate these learning mechanisms at the individual and organizational levels, and then detail how these learning mechanisms are influenced by self-compassion.
Self-compassion and learning from failure through broad perception
Broad perception of individuals: A broad perception refers to individuals’ ability to make higher-level connections, widen their range of percepts or ideas, and extend the attention and/or thinking that enhances their outlook on events or issues (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson1998; Fredrickson et al. Reference Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek and Finkel2008). A broader perception of the environment and failure events enhances learning from the experience. Rather than having bounded awareness that blinds them to the signals and information available to them (Chugh and Bazerman Reference Chugh and Bazerman2007), individuals with broader perception have greater situational awareness (Dane Reference Dane2010; Weick et al. Reference Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld1999), which contributes to their deeper comprehension of the situation and makes them more able to inform and predict the nature of possible future states (Endsley Reference Endsley1995). That is, they are in a better position to learn and apply that learning in subsequent projects.
First, an individual's self-kindness can broaden his or her perception about a failure event. Researchers have found that people high in self-knowledge pay increased attention to “unflattering self-relevant information” (Aspinwall Reference Aspinwall1998), which helps them build a more accurate picture of the situation (Leary et al. Reference Leary and Tate2007; Sedikides Reference Sedikides1993). Self-kindness helps separate self-worth from a failure event, thus making it unnecessary to hide shortcomings from oneself. In turn, the recognition of these shortcomings generates less anxiety (Leary et al. Reference Leary and Tate2007). When an individual avoids harsh self-criticism, the protective functions of the ego are not triggered by failure. This is vital as these ego-protective functions can screen out signals to maintain high self-esteem (Horney Reference Horney1950; Reich Reference Reich1949), such as the signals of the underlying causes of failure. However, while one's self-esteem may remain high, the limited self-awareness caused by these ego functions allow weaknesses and mistakes to go unnoticed (Neff Reference Neff2003a). Furthermore, individuals with less self-kindness engage in harsh self-criticism and often become carried away with their negative emotional reactions to loss events, which can lead to rumination and a narrowing of attention (Nolen-Hoeksema Reference Nolen-Hoeksema1991). As a result, people with low levels of self-kindness typically develop an overly narrow perception of their current situation (Leary et al. Reference Leary and Tate2007; Sedikides Reference Sedikides1993) and are therefore less able to learn from their failure experiences.
Second, individuals’ common humanity broadens perception of failure by allowing them to acknowledge their experiences in the broader human context (Goldstein and Michaels Reference Goldstein and Michaels1985; Scheff Reference Scheff1981). By putting failures in this broader context, individuals are less likely to engage ego-protective mechanisms (Baumeister, Smart, and Boden Reference Baumeister, Smart and Boden1996; Twenge and Campbell Reference Twenge and Campbell2003) that lead to a rigid closed mindset that does not allow alternate viewpoints (Jost et al. Reference Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski and Sulloway2003; Taris Reference Taris2000). With greater common humanity, individuals can maintain a more open mindset that broadens their perception of the events leading up to failure, which facilitates learning from the experience.
Finally, more emotionally mindful individuals can develop a broader perception of a negative situation (Slagter et al. Reference Slagter, Lutz, Greischar, Francis, Nieuwenhuis, Davis and Davidson2007) because their sense of self is softened (Martin Reference Martin1997), and their attention is shifted away from the elaborate cognitive processing necessary for creating a story that protects the self but is instead shifted toward the non-judgmental acceptance of present-moment experience (Bishop et al. Reference Bishop, Lau, Shapiro, Carlson, Anderson, Carmody, Segal, Abbey, Speca and Velting2004; Neff and Vonk Reference Neff and Vonk2009). That is, mindfulness involves experiencing loss without clinging to it (e.g., ruminating [Nolen-Hoeksema Reference Nolen-Hoeksema1991]) or rejecting it (Leary and Tate Reference Leary and Tate2007). Thus, more mindful individuals are able to maintain attentional sensitivity to internal and external signals (Baumeister, Heatherton, and Tice Reference Baumeister, Heatherton and Tice1993; Carver and Scheier Reference Carver and Scheier1999; Dane Reference Dane2010), which in turn provides a “quality of consciousness that is characterized by clarity and vividness of current experience and functioning” (Brown and Ryan Reference Brown and Ryan2003: 825). This new consciousness can reveal information about the failure that would otherwise remain hidden from view (cf. Brown, Ryan, and Creswell Reference Brown, Ryan and Creswell2007; Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette, and Strosahl Reference Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette and Strosahl1996; Slagter et al. Reference Slagter, Lutz, Greischar, Francis, Nieuwenhuis, Davis and Davidson2007).
Broad perception in organizations: Organizations can also have broader perceptions that increase their ability to understand the situation (Ocasio Reference Ocasio1997; Weick et al. Reference Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld1999) surrounding or leading up to a failure event. In turn, these perceptions inform organizations’ actions that maintain or enhance organizational functioning. For example, conceptual slack represents the diversity among organizational members’ perspectives about their organization's processes (Schulman Reference Schulman1993; Weick Reference Weick1993), which increases the organization's ability to identify problems that need to be solved (Sutcliffe and Vogus Reference Sutcliffe and Vogus2003). Conceptual slack is more often promoted in organizations that value new perspectives; share information; and encourage the questioning of existing norms, procedures, and routines (Bogner and Barr Reference Bogner and Barr2000; Cho and Hambrick Reference Cho and Hambrick2006). Such organizations encourage members to report failures and near misses (Edmondson Reference Edmondson1996; Rochlin Reference Rochlin1989) because such feedback provides more data points for learning and informs subsequent action (Weick et al. Reference Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld1999; Weick and Sutcliffe Reference Weick and Sutcliffe2006). Therefore, an organization's perception is likely broadened by self-compassion via three distinct mechanisms – self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness.
First, organizational self-kindness can contribute to a culture that encourages its members to report failures and near misses by protecting those who do the reporting and thereby increasing understanding of the causes underlying failure events. Internally directed reports can acknowledge failures, inadequacies, and flaws within the organizational system but have the potential to do so with caring and tenderness. These reports are likely to reflect discriminating wisdom by clearly evaluating the positive and negative quality of actions while maintaining a compassionate understanding of the complex, dynamic situational factors that impact these actions; as a result, particular performances are not taken as indicators of self-worth (Neff, Hsieh, and Dejitterat Reference Neff, Hsieh and Dejitterat2005: 264). Without the worth of the organization or its members being threatened, organizational members are likely to be more open to reporting failures, and these reports are likely to be more trusted.
Organizational self-kindness also acknowledges acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, and organizational members trust the managers’ apportionment of blame for the failure to the organization's system and/or routines without undermining the worth of the organization as a whole. In contrast, harsh self-criticism over a failed project is likely to trigger mechanisms for protecting the organization's worth, and one means of doing this is to attribute blame externally – that is, to blame actors external to the organization for causing the failure rather than blaming the organization's internal routines and systems. The external attribution of blame can send a signal of inappropriately apportioning blame and undermining a just culture. In a more self-compassionate organization, failures and flaws do not need to be hidden in order to avoid harsh self-judgment; rather, organizational self-kindness helps members adopt a more objective perspective of a failure event, which enhances their ability to learn from the experience.
Second, recognizing that all organizations make mistakes and have flaws (i.e., common humanity) helps provide individuals a feeling of security when reporting the mistakes and flaws that led to the failure event. It also helps organizations maintain connections with external actors who may be important information sources about the organization's current situation. For example, patient complaints about physicians can be important information sources regarding any mistakes, flaws, or other inadequacies in the system to deliver adequate medical care, but hospitals often feel threatened by such information and are therefore less open to it (Allsop and Mulcahy Reference Allsop and Mulcahy1998; Lupton Reference Lupton2012). Furthermore, individuals’ emotional reactions to project failure are likely to be less negative when the event is positioned in terms of “organizational life” in general. This frees the organization's cognitive capacity, thereby facilitating greater awareness and processing of weak signals of the underlying causes of project failure. By making it clear that errors and flaws are something all organizations face at some time, project failure is less likely to challenge the overall worth of the organization. Additionally, organizational members are less likely to feel that they need to defend their worth (to themselves and to others) by unjustly apportioning blame. Similarly, by maintaining connections with outsiders (as a result of common humanity), the organization (i.e., the collective of organizational members) is less likely to unjustly blame these outsiders for the failure.Footnote 2 In contrast, with less common humanity, an organization is already isolated from others and its members are more likely to unjustly attribute blame to those with which it is no longer connected. Furthermore, as negative emotions are exacerbated by isolation (Wood, Saltzberg, Neale, Stone, and Rachmiel Reference Wood, Saltzberg, Neale, Stone and Rachmiel1990), the organization becomes increasingly motivated to reduce the negative emotions generated by project failure by shifting blame even when such a shift is unjust. Thus, the isolation itself removes the organization from others as a potentially important source of information for learning from the failure experience.
Finally, an organization's emotional mindfulness contributes to reports of information that are important in detecting signals for making sense of project failure. When organizational members as a collective hold painful thoughts in balanced awareness, their attention can remain “stable and vivid,” thereby providing a clearer view of the situation (Weick and Sutcliffe Reference Weick and Sutcliffe2006: 521), which in turn forms the basis of reporting. Given the non-judgmental nature of this kind of assessment, the organization's worth is not attacked, and this more fact-based report of failures, near misses, and flaws is likely to be more trusted by organizational members. Such an environment of trust allows individuals to express negative emotions as well as widen their perspective of the event (and associated emotions), which helps broaden their perspective and opens a pathway to more positive emotions.
While reports of an organization's failings are not distorted by organizational members’ negative emotions, this does not mean that negative emotions are ignored. Rather organizational mindfulness helps members detect, understand, and report on their emotions so they can be regulated to promote resilience. Further, by separating assessments of negative events (and emotional reactions to them) from maintaining notions of self-worth, mindful organizations reduce the likelihood that their members will employ ego-defensive strategies (Leary et al. Reference Leary and Tate2007; Neff, Kirkpatrick, and Rude Reference Neff, Kirkpatrick and Rude2007), such as unjustly apportioning blame (Lazarus Reference Lazarus1991; Miller Reference Miller1976). Indeed, more mindful organizations explore failures and flaws (and the negative emotions that result from them) with a non-judgmental curiosity that justly attributes causes and explores possible courses of action, which helps create the atmosphere of trust necessary to learn from project failures.
Self-compassion and learning from failure through a broad array of resources
Learning from failure is enhanced by taking actions based on beliefs about what caused the project failure, which itself provides feedback for subsequent learning and action. Therefore, learning from failure is likely enhanced by a broader array of resources that facilitate subsequent action. In this section, we discuss how individual and organizational resources for learning from failure are likely broadened and/or extended in the presence of individual and organizational self-compassion. We begin with individual resources.
Individual array of resources: For individuals, the “presence of latent resources that can be activated, combined, and recombined in new situations” (Sutcliffe and Vogus Reference Sutcliffe and Vogus2003: 97) enhances one's ability to take action to further make sense of project failure. These resources can be internal, such as, competence, coping skills, and self-efficacy (Fergus and Zimmerman Reference Fergus and Zimmerman2005), or external to the individual, such as social support, role models, and mentoring (Brook, Whiteman, Gordon, and Cohen Reference Brook, Whiteman, Gordon and Cohen1989; Zimmerman, Bingenheimer, and Notaro Reference Zimmerman, Bingenheimer and Notaro2002). An individual's array of resources for learning from failure and moving forward is likely broadened by self-compassion in three primary ways.
First, an individual's self-kindness can increase his or her breadth of resources for dealing with failure and the flexibility to redeploy them effectively to new or existing projects. Self-kindness provides individuals with a more stable “feeling of self-worth over time” (Neff and Vonk Reference Neff and Vonk2009) and a greater focus on mastery goals than on performance-outcome goals (Neff et al. Reference Neff, Hsieh and Dejitterat2005). That is, by separating feelings of self-worth from failures, individuals can maintain a consistent notion of self-esteem from which to draw upon during failure experiences and to approach (rather than avoid) such experiences as learning situations. Self-kindness does not mean giving oneself a “free pass”; rather, out of a sense of caring and kindness to oneself, an individual is motivated to rectify a failure and improve so as to avoid repeating similar errors in the future. Indeed, self-kindness has been found to be linked to problem-focused coping (Neff et al. Reference Neff, Hsieh and Dejitterat2005) and adaptive responses (Leary et al. Reference Leary and Tate2007) to failure. Because self-kindness eliminates harsh self-criticism, individuals are “freer” to take personal initiative, modify unproductive behaviors, and take on new challenges (for a review, see Neff and Vonk Reference Neff and Vonk2009).
Second, with greater common humanity, individuals can maintain a more open mindset and remain connected with others as sources of information who can inform their understanding of failure events. Further, with greater common humanity, individuals are less likely to exaggerate feelings of separation from others (Goldstein and Kornfield Reference Goldstein and Kornfield1987; Neff Reference Neff2003a) after experiencing project failure. This enables them to feel more related and secure (Gilbert and Irons Reference Gilbert, Irons and Gilbert2005), and to maintain and build relationships (Campbell and Baumeister Reference Campbell and Baumeister2001). These relationships provide access to resources that may be useful to learn (Huy Reference Huy1999; Shepherd Reference Shepherd2009) from failure experiences and provide the emotional support needed to take proactive adaptive actions in subsequent projects.
Finally, mindfulness can contribute to an individual's resources for learning from failure and moving forward on subsequent projects. In fact, mindfulness has been described as the “capacity to be aware of internal and external events and occurrences as phenomena, rather than as objects of a conceptually constructed world” (Brown et al. Reference Brown, Ryan and Creswell2007: 212; Olendzki Reference Olendzki, Germer, Siegel and Fulton2005: 253) and as the ability to remain engaged when facing negative events (Eifert and Heffner Reference Eifert and Heffner2003; Levitt, Brown, Orsillo, and Barlow Reference Levitt, Brown, Orsillo and Barlow2004), such as project failure. An individual develops this ability because mindfulness leads to less emotional reactivity to adverse events (Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson Reference Hayes, Strosahl and Wilson1999; Leary et al. Reference Leary and Tate2007) and the ability to predict (Dunn, Brackett, Ashton-James, Schneiderman, and Salovey Reference 67Dunn, Brackett, Ashton-James, Schneiderman and Salovey2007) and control (Leary and Tate Reference Leary and Tate2007) emotional reactions to such events. This particular characteristic of mindfulness enables one to feel less cognitive and emotional disturbance (Brown and Ryan Reference Brown and Ryan2003) and greater social connectedness (Brown and Ryan Reference Brown and Ryan2003, Reference 66Brown and Ryan2004; Brown and Kasser Reference Brown and Kasser2005) after project failure, which is useful for the generation of and access to additional resources for learning from the experience and moving forward with new projects.
Organizational array of resources: Organizations also possess resources that are useful for addressing threats and can have processes that recombine resources and redeploy them in new ways (Eisenhardt and Martin Reference Eisenhardt and Martin2000). This process of redeploying organizational resources increases the array of possible action repertoires (Weick et al. Reference Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld1999) for enacting what is learned from failure experiences, which in turn opens the organization to additional feedback and learning. Social capital and relationships are also a source of resources, insight, and assistance (Leana and Van Buren Reference Leana and Van Buren1999) that facilitate organizations’ sensemaking (Weick, Sutcliffe, and Obstfeld Reference Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld2005) from failure experiences. Similar to individuals, an organization's ability to make sense of project failure and act upon that understanding is likely broadened by self-compassion in three primary ways.
First, in a more self-kind organization, errors and flaws do not need to be hidden in order to avoid harsh self-judgment; rather, organizational self-kindness helps members adopt a more objective perspective of failure events. When an organization reduces the negative emotional reactions individuals feel toward a failure event (e.g., the additional anxiety generated by an organization's disapproving judgment of mistakes and flaws), there is less of a need for them to avoid attending to and thinking about those mistakes and flaws. Attending to mistakes and flaws provides a basis for learning from failure. Further, organizational self-kindness helps prevent members from being carried away by negative emotions from a loss and thus, reduces ruminations that can escalate grief (cf. Nolen-Hoeksema Reference Nolen-Hoeksema1991). Such emotions and anxiety have been found to interfere with individuals’ learning processes by consuming their information-processing capacity (Weick Reference Weick1990).
Second, organizational common humanity can also contribute to a learning culture. It helps an organization avert its members from having a collective feeling that they are the only ones suffering, and it helps the organization avert its members from being carried away and becoming absorbed by their own feelings. As such, reducing the escalation of negative emotions and anxiety reduces obstacles to learning and adaptation (Huy,Reference Huy1999; Shepherd Reference Shepherd2009; Weick Reference Weick1990). As discussed earlier, because organizational common humanity helps organizations maintain their connections with others, it also allows them to maintain information sources that are critical for learning. Further, accepting that failures may occur in the future (as they do in all organizations), an organization with high common humanity is more willing to act despite the possibility of failure as well as to use the feedback from these actions (and possible failures) to learn. In addition, organizational members are able to approach failed projects with curiosity instead of fear.
Finally, organizational mindfulness can also amplify resources that contribute to a learning culture. Mindfulness enables a culture in which organizational members can explore – with curiosity – the collective emotional reaction to failure and failure events themselves without creating ego-protective obstacles to learning. It can also help reduce the anxiety associated with the generation of negative emotions, which leads to a reduced number of obstacles to learning (Huy Reference Huy1999; Weick Reference Weick1990). That is, by maintaining a balanced awareness of the collective emotional reaction to project failure, an organization is more likely to harness the benefits of negative emotions (i.e., affect as information [Forgas Reference Forgas1995; Gasper and Clore Reference Gasper and Clore2002], e.g., signaling the importance of situational cues [Clore Reference Clore1992; Schwarz and Clore Reference Schwarz, Clore, Fiedler and Forgas1988]) without some of the associated costs (e.g., constricted information processing [Gladstein and Reilly Reference Gladstein and Reilly1985; Sutton and D'Aunno Reference Sutton and D'Aunno1989]) to learn more about why a project failed and enact that learning in subsequent projects. Therefore, through emotional mindfulness, organizations can gather and process more salient information to learn about (and from) failure events.
Self-compassion, positive emotions, and learning from failure
In the previous sections, we argued for a direct relationship between self-compassion and learning from failure. In the following sections, we build on the broaden-and-build theory of emotions to propose that self-compassion also has an indirect path to learning from failure through the generation of positive emotions. In the next sub-section, we establish the link between the components of self-compassion and positive emotions at both the individual and organizational level. Then, we link these generated positive emotions to learning from failure.
Self-compassion and positive emotions
Self-compassion can generate positive emotions, such as love, contentment, and interest, which can help reduce grief over project failure through a number of important mechanisms. First, self-kindness involves being understanding and tolerant of one's errors, flaws, and inadequacies and being kind, caring, tender, and loving toward oneself (Neff Reference Neff2003k). In turn, these feelings of warmth and caring can generate positive emotions (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson1998; Salzberg Reference Salzberg2002). Indeed, induced kindness has been found to result in increased positive emotions (Otake, Shimai, Tanaka-Matsumi, Otsui, and Fredrickson Reference 72Otake, Shimai, Tanaka-Matsumi, Otsui and Fredrickson2006; Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson Reference 73Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson2005). For example, one study (Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener Reference Lyubomirsky, King and Diener2005) found that participants who were asked to perform five acts of kindness in one day were happier than both those who were asked to perform five acts of kindness over seven days and those who were not asked to engage in any acts of kindness. An organization's kindness can also generate collective positive emotions. For instance, organizations can demonstrate kindness, such as through benevolence, that promotes happiness and other positive emotions among their employees and stakeholders (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone Reference Jurkiewicz and Giacalone2004; Milliman et al. Reference Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson2001).
Second, common humanity can generate positive emotions. The common-humanity dimension of self-compassion involves putting one's failures, flaws, and inadequacies in perspective by acknowledging that most people face similar difficulties, make mistakes, and also have feelings of inadequacy (Neff Reference Neff2003k). In this way, greater self-compassion can lead people to feel (and remain) connected to others. For example, Neff (Reference Neff2003k) found that self-compassion was positively associated with social connectedness. This social connectedness and the corresponding feelings of belonging are viewed as basic psychological needs (Baumeister and Leary Reference Baumeister and Leary1995; Ryan Reference Ryan and Deci1991) that can generate positive emotions (Argyle Reference Argyle1987; McAdams Reference McAdams1985; McAdams and Bryant Reference McAdams and Bryant1987). For example, the feeling of being accepted by others can lead to the positive emotion of contentment (De Rivera, Possell, Verette, and Weiner Reference De Rivera, Possell, Verette and Weiner1989; Izard Reference Izard1997; Markus and Kitayama Reference 71Markus and Kitayama1991). Indeed, this form of self-compassion can alter the “felt connection” between organizational members (Frost, Dutton, Worline, and Wilson Reference Frost, Dutton, Worline and Wilson2000), which can generate a range of positive feelings (Dutton, Frost, Worline, Lilius, and Kanov Reference Dutton, Frost, Worline, Lilius and Kanov2002; Lilius et al. Reference Lilius, Worline, Dutton, Kanov, Frost and Maitlis2003). For instance, organizational values that facilitate a sense of being connected with others generate a collective feeling of completeness and joy (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz Reference Giacalone and Jurkiewicz2003).
Finally, mindfulness can generate positive emotions. The mindfulness dimension of self-compassion involves keeping emotions in balance, which leads one to approach his or her feelings with “curiosity and openness” (Neff Reference Neff2003k: 232). Approaching feelings, including negative emotions, with curiosity and openness can itself generate the positive emotion of interest (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan and Tugade2000). Indeed, curiosity is “taking an interest in all of the ongoing experience” in one's life (Peterson and Seligman Reference Peterson and Seligman2003, Reference Peterson and Seligman2004; Seligman et al. Reference 73Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson2005: 412) and is related to thriving on “novel, complex and challenging” tasks (Izard Reference Izard1997; Kashdan and Steger Reference Kashdan and Steger2007: 159). Curiosity can also lead to feelings of excitement, an urge to explore (Izard, Reference Izard1997; Tomkins, Reference Tomkins1962). This organizational curiosity and these feelings of interest and excitement discourage complacency and encourage organizational members to tolerate ambiguity and continue to engage in experimentation (Hedberg Reference Hedberg, Nystrom and Starbucks1981; Steensma Reference Steensma1996; Vera and Crossan Reference Vera and Crossan2004) even after failure events.
Positive emotions and learning from failure
Based on the “undo” principle (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson1998, Reference Fredrickson2001), the positive emotions generated by self-compassion can help undo some of the negative consequences of emotions triggered by an adverse event (Fredrickson and Levenson Reference Fredrickson and Levenson1998; Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, and Tugade Reference Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan and Tugade2000) and can broaden the actor's “momentary thought-action repertoire” (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson2001: 220). An expanded momentary thought–action repertoire broadens an individual's scope of attention for learning about the underlying causes of failure and offers a larger set of possible actions (Fredrickson Reference Fredrickson1998; Fredrickson and Branigan Reference Fredrickson, Branigan, Mayne and Bonanno2001) in response to that learning. For example, while negative emotions have been found to narrow focused attention (such that individuals cannot see the forest for the trees, so to speak), positive emotions have been found to broaden the scope of attention (Derryberry and Tucker Reference Derryberry, Tucker, Niedenthal and Kitayama1994; Fredrickson and Branigan Reference Fredrickson and Branigan2005; Isen and Daubman Reference Isen and Daubman1984). Positive emotions have also been found to be associated with cognitive processes that are more creative (George Reference George1991; Isen, Daubman, and Nowicki Reference Isen, Daubman and Nowicki1987) and more flexible (Baumann and Kuhl Reference 65Baumann and Kuhl2005; Isen and Daubman Reference Isen and Daubman1984) and result in a greater variety of action alternatives (Isen Reference Isen2001; Kahn and Isen Reference 70Kahn and Isen1993). Therefore, “the ability to harness positive emotions in the midst of negative experiences” (Tugade and Fredrickson Reference Tugade and Fredrickson2004: 331) provides a basis for learning and moving forward.
To the extent that self-compassion can generate positive emotions during (or after) failure events, it can help broaden individuals’ momentary thought–action repertoires that are likely to enable them to adapt to new situations or projects. For example, an organization's acts of kindness have been found to generate positive emotions that help organizational members deal with work-related stressors (Edwards and Cooper Reference Edwards and Cooper1988; Simmons and Nelson Reference Simmons and Nelson2001). Indeed, it has been proposed that organizational curiosity (and the resulting generation of positive emotion) is central to an actor's ability to detect “the weak signals that make or break” an organization (Day and Schoemaker Reference Day and Schoemaker2006). Collectively felt positive emotions likely help organizational members move forward after project failure because they are apt to increase their range of possible response options, maintain a creative perspective for problem solving, and generate energy (Avey, Wernsing, and Luthans Reference Avey, Wernsing and Luthans2008; Baumeister, Gailliot, DeWall, and Oaten Reference Baumeister, Gailliot, DeWall and Oaten2006) to implement what they learn from the failure experience in subsequent projects. Although it is important to consider the factors that assist individuals in learning and moving on after experiencing failure, it is also important to understand how prolonging the failure event itself can prove influential in assisting with the coping process, which will be the focal topic of the next chapter.
Discussion
Implications for research on learning from failure and mindfulness
Although the cognitive aspects of learning from the individual level of analysis have been used to build the current understanding of organizational learning, this has not been the case for the emotional aspects of learning (or at least to the same extent). That is, while emotions have been acknowledged in this line of research, it has typically been in terms of how negative emotions obstruct learning. Although we also acknowledged the generation of negative emotions and how they can undermine learning from failure, we offered a positive-psychology perspective of emotions. Specifically, individuals, alone and as a collective, can develop self-compassion that can directly enhance learning from failure by broadening an organization's attention and increasing its array of resources for action. However, self-compassion can also indirectly enhance learning from failure by generating positive emotions that undo negative emotions, broaden attention, and build resources. By focusing only on the negative emotions generated by adversity, cognitive approaches to learning miss out on the emotional sources of learning (i.e., self-compassion and the other positive emotions generated by it). Therefore, future research on responding to failure will be well served by investigating the organizing of self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness and the organizing of positive emotions in terms of organizational attention and the generation (i.e., access to and recombination of) resources.
The implications of our model for the current research on learning from failure are further heightened by our treatment of mindfulness. Although the organizational theory literature has acknowledged the importance of mindfulness, it has focused on its cognitive dimensions and has relatively ignored its emotional dimensions. We took an initial step into this emotional domain, and in doing so, we complemented the importance of facing negative events with an open mind. with the importance of facing negative events with an open heart. While we recognize there are different definitions of mindfulness and that some may exclude the emotional mindfulness offered here, it is important to note that our notion of mindfulness has been established conceptually (Neff Reference Neff2003a) and empirically (Arimitsu and Hofmann Reference Arimitsu and Hofmann2015; Fredrickson et al. Reference Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek and Finkel2008; Neff Reference Neff2003k) in the psychology literature building on Buddhist philosophy. Whether they are two dimensions of the same construct or two different constructs altogether, we believe that it is important to investigate approaching failure with an open heart to gain a deeper understanding of learning from failure experiences. We believe future contributions to the organizational learning literature will come from finer-grained research on the interrelationship between cognitive mindfulness and emotional mindfulness.
Implications for research on the psychology of self-compassion
Psychology studies have built on Buddhist philosophies to introduce the notion of self-compassion (self-compassion at the individual level) (Neff Reference Neff2003a; for a review, see Neff, Reference Neff2009). We complemented and extended this literature in three primary ways. First, we focused on learning from failure as the outcome of self-compassion. Although adding another dependent variable to a long list of dependent variables at the individual level of analysis (e.g., positively associated with happiness, optimism, wisdom, curiosity, personal initiative [Neff, et al. Reference Neff, Kirkpatrick and Rude2007], and interpersonal relationships [Neff Reference Neff and Suizzo2006] and negatively associated with anxiety, depression, and rumination [Neff et al. Reference Neff, Hsieh and Dejitterat2005; Neff et al. Reference Neff, Kirkpatrick and Rude2007]) is not a contribution, the “learning from failure” construct is sufficiently broad so as to encapsulate many of these previously investigated outcome variables. That is, by theorizing about self-compassion and learning from failure, we were able to offer both a broad and parsimonious model – one that has the potential of integrating or reconciling numerous studies under a more general theoretical framework (Bacharach Reference Bacharach1989; Whetten Reference Whetten1989).
Second, we highlighted the mediating role of positive emotions in the relationship between self-compassion and learning from failure. Previous research has focused on how compassion minimizes the generation of negative emotions. We acknowledged these same mechanisms but added an additional concept – self-compassion – that can generate positive emotions and undo negative emotional reactions generated from project failure. This focus is important as the role of self-compassion in generating positive emotions that undo negative emotions has received little attention in past research. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which self-compassion influences various well-being outcomes have often remained implicit. We make explicit how self-compassion can enhance learning from failure by building on the broaden-and-build principle of positive emotions. We hope future empirical research will investigate the nature of these relationships.
Finally, we considered the construct of self-compassion at the organizational level as well as at the individual level. Although the notion of compassion has been applied at the organizational level, the notion of self-compassion has not. By extending self-compassion to the organizational level, we were able to connect it to organizational learning and collective emotions. We hopefully provide a bridge from the self-compassion literature to the organizational literature on learning from failure and emotion (both positive and negative) and more generally to positive organizational scholarship. While we have taken the initial step of conceptualizing self-compassion at the organizational level and theorizing on the organizing mechanisms that enhance organizational learning from failure and generate positive emotions, there are ample opportunities for future research in this area. These include a finer-grained investigation of these mechanisms and the antecedents of organizational self-compassion.
Implications for research on positive emotions
We built on the broaden-and-build principle of positive emotions in the psychology literature to gain a deeper understanding of how self-compassion indirectly influences resilience. However, our theorizing has several implications for the literature on positive emotions as well. First, we investigated the broaden-and-build principle at the organizational level, which helped explain why some organizations learn more from their failure experiences than others. This complements the research on emotions in organizations that has primarily focused on negative emotions interfering with learning or change (Huy Reference Huy1999; Shepherd, Covin, and Kuratko Reference Shepherd, Covin and Kuratko2009) and on positive emotions as part of emotional labor (Ashforth and Humphrey Reference Ashforth and Humphrey1993; Hochschild Reference Hochschild1979). Therefore, rather than focus on the negative role emotions play in cognitions or the role employees’ emotional displays play in the emotions of customers, consistent with a positive-psychology perspective of organizational research, we highlighted the role of positive emotions in broadening attention and increasing the array of resources for moving forward after failure events.
Second, we offered self-compassion as a source of positive emotions. Although the literature has recognized the potential benefits of positive emotions, there has been little research on the antecedents of these positive emotions, especially when individuals face adversity. At the individual level, research on positive emotions has investigated traits (Ekman Reference Ekman1994), genuine (Duchenne) smiling (Papa and Bonanno Reference Papa and Bonanno2008), laughter (Bonanno and Keltner Reference Bonanno and Keltner1997), and the use of humor (Weick and Westley Reference Weick, Westley, Clegg, Hardy and Nord1996). At the organizational level, research has focused on superficial and deep acting to generate displays that generate positive emotions in others (Grandey Reference 69Grandey2003). We added the construct of self-compassion to these lists. Individuals and organizations with greater self-compassion are able to generate more positive emotions, especially during the period of adversity surrounding failure events. Future research can investigate the relationship between these different mechanisms that promote self-compassion. Perhaps, humor and laughter are more effective at generating positive emotions in individuals who are higher in self-compassion; humor might even be an effective tool for generating self-compassion. In addition, perhaps self-compassion is further developed in an organization whose culture encourages the “deep acting” of self-compassion, which becomes heartfelt after time.
Finally, our model focused on how self-compassion generates positive emotions because we were interested in explaining how self-compassion indirectly influences learning from failure. However, future research can explore the possible feedback loop for the relationship between self-compassion and positive emotions. That is, although we proposed that self-compassion generates positive emotions, perhaps, positive emotions also enhance self-compassion. As positive emotions help to broaden momentary thought–action repertoires so that thought patterns are more flexible and creative and offer a broader array of action alternatives in response to failure events, these thought patterns may lead to a broader array of self-compassion repertories. That is, a broader, more flexible, and more creative thought process can enhance organizational self-kindness, common humanity, and/or emotional mindfulness. In turn, this may generate even more positive emotions as part of a virtuous learning spiral.
Managerial implications
Beyond the theoretical contributions discussed earlier, this study also has implications that could influence practicing managers. All organizations experience failure at least to some degree, and they do so at multiple levels (i.e., individuals failing at their jobs, project teams failing to achieve objectives, and organization failing overall). We anticipate three primary managerial implications that address key concerns associated with learning from failure. First, managers should consider the various benefits their organizations can receive by understanding individual and organizational self-compassion. By incorporating the principles explained here, managers might generate more value from exploratory projects, instill a culture of learning in their organizations, and avoid or reduce the negative outcomes associated with failure. Similarly, managers might explore opportunities to develop self-compassion in their organizations, proactively shaping a culture of positivity and growth, which is likely to have a positive influence on key employee activities (e.g., engagement, productivity, satisfaction) (Arimitsu and Hofmann Reference Arimitsu and Hofmann2015). Thus, creating a culture of self-compassion should provide more positive outcomes than just learning from failure.
Second, managers should be aware of the different levels of self-compassion and how they interact in shaping individual- and organizational-level responses to failure. Organizational members come to the organization with diverse backgrounds and skill sets, including their ability to experience self-compassion. By recognizing these differences, managers might develop methods for identifying self-compassionate employees as well as cultivating individual-level self-compassion once individuals are employed. Combined with this effort, managers can develop an organizational culture of self-compassion that can then be replicated at the project, team, and (hopefully) individual levels, further reinforcing the overall objectives of the firm. By understanding the different levels of self-compassion, managers have a number of resources at hand to help their organizations manage failure and learning from failure.
Finally, beyond cultivating self-compassion, this study also identified the importance of positive emotions and its influence on resources that serve as mechanisms for learning. As suggested earlier, positive emotions provide a number of benefits for organizations and their members. Managers should consider how to cultivate positive emotions, specifically in response to negative events, such as project failure. In addition, managers should tie efforts to generate positive emotions to the resource they have at hand to facilitate learning. That is, positive emotions should be directed toward attending to causes of a failure and taking action to overcome those issues, moving forward as opposed to simply offering an escape from errors. Both organizations and individuals have resources at hand when dealing with failure events; the key takeaway for managers is the need to understand how to enhance the effectiveness or scale of those resources to facilitate learning from failure events.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we offered a model of self-compassion as a source of learning from failure. We investigated the role of self-compassion (rather than other-related compassion) on learning from failure and its indirect role in the generation of positive emotions. This model provided a parsimonious explanation of these relationships that is applicable at both the individual and organizational levels of analysis. We believe that our model provides new insights into the role of self-compassion in dealing with failure events.
