We live in a non-communicative culture
We live in a world where technological advances and social media are shaping our everyday lives. Children as young as 3 years old can now use an iPad and a smartphone better than most adults, but what will the future look like if this development continues and what will happen to our society in the longer term?
Let's start with the communicative. Children and young people today are the result of a non-communicative culture where instead of talking to each other face-to-face, we prefer to use technology such as Snapchat, IG, Messenger, Slack, etc.
For example, we see how the subject of coding is gaining ground in Danish primary schools, but if coding is a language we are about to teach our children, what about looking at human interactions? What about teaching future generations how to interact with each other and how they can develop - both on a personal level, but also on a more compassionate level?
A survey conducted by Epinion for LO concluded that more than half of public employees have difficulty expressing their opinions and that they don't feel they have influence over the framework at their workplace. The overall picture that emerges is that the majority of us find it difficult to criticize each other because we are part of a zero-defect culture that is based on the idea that you shouldn't point out the holes in the cheese, but rather be a back slapper.
Let's learn to make mistakes
We need to change this cultural evolution, from the smallest members of society to the individual workplace. According to British professor Julian Birkinshaw, who teaches strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School, when you only focus on what succeeds, you breed a behavior where people play it safe and mistakes are hidden away.
In this way, we miss out on valuable learning and we don't develop as individuals when we only focus on the positive things in a given context.
Minister of Education and Research Tommy Ahlers has previously stated that: "Failing is an excellent way to learn", and he hopes that in the future, young people will "immerse themselves and learn, be curious and dare to fail" instead of promoting the zero-failure culture that we are part of now.
If we look beyond our own borders to the United States, several American universities have started teaching students that it's okay to make mistakes. Rachel Simmons, director of the "failing well" program at Smith College in Massachusetts, explains that you can't be a good learner if you don't understand how to fail. She adds that if you're afraid of failure, you won't seek out situations where you experience the joy of exploring the unknown.
Champagne from the boss as a reward
One Danish company that has already embraced this mentality is LEO Innovation Lab, which develops digital aids and apps for people with skin diseases. In an attempt to break the zero error culture, CEO Kristian Schrøder Hart-Hansen has chilled bottles of champagne for his employees when they make mistakes, not when the company has experienced high growth, made a sale or had a profitable financial year. According to Jesper Damm, Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group, the success of the LEO Innovation Lab is a rare sight in the business world, and he believes that more companies could learn from the Leo Innovation Lab.
LEO Innovation Lab's initiative is certainly worthy of a thumbs-up, but how do we spread this mentality to the rest of the population, and how do we change a mentality that has long been part of society?
Do you just stand up as a minister and shout at people and say:" From tomorrow, the zero-error culture won't exist, and from tomorrow you can criticize your fellow human beings"? Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
The school schedule is calling
If we intend to grow together, we need to learn to integrate feedback into our everyday lives. I suggest that we put the most effort into the smallest members of society, as they are our future.
Despite the fact that we live in a world where we daily create more distance in our interactions with each other, professors and heads of state state state that robots cannot take over our social skills, so why not prioritize and train them? Therefore, a subject on the school curriculum that strengthens our human interactions could bring a lot of value to the individual. Call it putting schoolyard lessons into structure. It will contribute to our society in the same way as e.g. math, physics, Danish, etc. which are already on the school timetable. Society needs us to learn and practice how to interact with each other in a more appropriate way, and a subject like "feedback" on the school timetable could help with that.
Read more about what social skills can mean for your opportunities in the job market:
https://www.feedwork.dk/2018/04/12/kan-sociale-faerdigheder-skaffe-dig-dit-nye-job/
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