Create a Culture of Excellence

Robert Fulghum’s assertion and book by the same name All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten may be true. But Fulghum’s credo does not mean we stop learning upon entering the first grade. Sadly though, for some the fun of learning is a distant memory. They are so stressed about the potential for imperfection and the feelings of inadequacy that they avoid having to learn new skills. They say they like what they are doing and that’s good enough. It feels safe.

But do we want our associates (or ourselves) to be so afraid of failure that they avoid new and more complex work? No, of course not.

Remember the fun we had in kindergarten learning a new skill, which we then showed to the whole world? What about years later, in college and then law school, when we had the opportunity to learn even more? It may have been less fun in the giggles and cookies sense, but learning was satisfying.

Now consider Tom Wujec’s TED Talk on the "Marshmallow Challenge," which is a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, a yard of tape, a yard of string and a marshmallow. The winning team built the highest freestanding structure in a mere 18 minutes. Who often builds the tallest tower? Kindergarteners! And why does this surprising group beat the average, engineers and architects excepted? Because kindergarteners are not afraid of failing.

Wujec also points to the kindergarteners’ success being the consequence of the iterative process. They start building right away, embracing and moving on from failures to create some of the most interesting and successful structures. While they surely embody a playfulness, what’s perhaps most notable, but more subtle, is that kindergarteners embrace learning as fun and imagination as a necessary ingredient to solving problems. Their results are a testament to this strategy’s effectiveness. If you need more adult guidance, consider that while Thomas Edison strove to invent a lightbulb, he is famous for quipping, “I will not say I failed 1,000 times, I will say that I found 1,000 ways that won't work.” Like the kindergarteners, he was reputed to be both imaginative and inquisitive and not deterred by the prospect of failure. He tenaciously worked toward success.

The relevance of the Marshmallow Challenge and Edison to the practice of law is this: some lawyers let their fear of failure eclipse their inborn curiosity, fun and excitement to learn and use their imagination, rendering them less effective.

While being careful and conscientious––adaptive perfectionism––is undoubtedly essential for any lawyer, the paralysis that can accompany fear of failure is not. Fear of failure is the fear that even a minor mistake results in catastrophe, says Dr. William Sparks, the creator of the Actualized Leader Framework and Profile (free short-form leadership assessment). The fear of failure can manifest as paralysis, procrastination, stubbornness, pessimism and micromanagement. When it does manifest and win, the fear of failure can be debilitating, resulting in the kind of errors that can result in job termination. Keep in mind that unchecked fear of failure isn’t just an attack on performance, but also well-being and confidence in oneself.

Another way to describe fear of failure is “maladaptive perfectionism.” Adaptive perfectionism is the drive to produce high-quality work; it’s what we expect from ourselves and hope for from associates. Maladaptive perfectionism obstructs excellence because it is fear driven. When in fear, associates do not feel safe and are self-protective and anxious. To be clear, adaptive perfectionism is productive; maladaptive perfectionism is not.

Seven Steps Toward a Culture of Learning and Excellence

Employ these seven steps to create a culture in which associates feel sufficiently safe to embrace a learning mindset and eschew that pesky fear of failure.

1. Lead by example. Opportunities for mistakes, messiness and misguided strategies abound. The reason clients hire you is to navigate the morass that is their matter. Success requires you, as leader, to eschew stress, blame and defensiveness for Edison’s attitude for success: persistently pursue the win.
2. Acknowledge the effort and the success. This isn’t the much maligned “everyone-gets-a-trophy” mentality. The point is that if you want your associates to try their best and take intellectual and creative risks, you must make it safe and rewarding to do so. When it does go well, celebrate and let the client and your colleagues know the value provided by your associate. When it doesn’t, move on to step #3.
3. Embrace teachable moments. We learn more from mistakes than from success. When the associate has made a mistake, take advantage of the opportunity to mentor and teach. Curiously probe their thinking and share yours.
4. Bite-size appropriately. Effective delegation requires you to accurately assess your associate’s capabilities. You are more likely to get what you want by bite-sizing projects, checking in at milestones to evaluate, provide feedback and mete out the next task. Consider asking for just the facts or one argument in a brief.
5. Be available. Check-ins require time in your busy schedule. Don’t just say “my door is always open”; plan for it to be.
6. Feedback. Feedback can be a touchy subject for both the giver and receiver. Again, be the leader by modeling receiving critical feedback with openness and equanimity even when it’s off-base. When giving feedback, share what the associate did well and what the associate could have done better with a teacher’s “no-drama” demeanor.
7. Be kind. We know that psychological safety is essential to learning, and being intentionally kind goes a long way in this regard.

The benefits of investing in creating a culture of learning and excellence are worthwhile. Your practice will increasingly thrive as you provide better service. You will be less stressed as you are able to rely more heavily on associates. Your firm’s retention will improve as associates recognize the firm as providing a positive environment with opportunities to learn.