How do you create a safe learning climate?

The Good(!) Conversation thrives in a climate where employees can see mistakes as learning moments. In such a work environment, they do not have the fear of being held accountable, but they consider themselves lucky to have a (coaching) manager. For example, a manager who is happy when they feel the openness to say they don't know something, can't do something yet, or made a mistake earlier.

When Thomas Edison had not yet succeeded in making a working light bulb after countless attempts, he was asked how it felt to deal with these failures time and again. He replied: "I have not failed, I have simply found thousands of ways that don't work." Edison saw setbacks as part of a long road to success. Without those thousands of failures, this inventor would never have arrived at a working light bulb.

Falling and getting up in a safe climate

Learning and developing involves falling and getting up, and that can make you feel sick, weak, and nauseous. Depending on the situation, employees must let go of the old and familiar, leave their comfort zone, and enter the fear zone when they learn something new. This process can be accompanied by resistance ('that doesn't apply to me') and lead to stagnation ('I've been working this way for years'). Yet it is true that most people are not afraid of the new; they are more afraid of leaving the old behind.

The first step towards a safe learning climate

Everyone can continuously improve themselves. But the willingness to grow increases as the fear of failure decreases. What helps employees is a role model (a manager or coach) they trust and who supports them to develop in a safe environment. According to organizational psychologist George Kohlrieser, employees who are afraid to fail have never learned to feel safe. According to him, a safe base leads to less or no fear of the new and unknown, and it also ensures that employees do not give up.

"If a manager does not form a safe base, employees dare not experiment or take risks. Those who are afraid are only busy protecting themselves and are mainly focused on limiting losses as much as possible instead of being successful and winning."
(G. Kohlrieser)

What is a learning climate with GUTS?

A safe base for learning is a learning climate with GUTS (book 'Making Mistakes Takes Courage' by Remko van der Drift) and LEF stands for:

Let the other shine: Giving others the opportunity to fail and develop by putting their learning process in the spotlight. Room for the employee, making mistakes is allowed.
En (And) instead of 'but': Accepting and utilizing situations that go wrong. Saying 'yes' to what happens and seeing this as an opportunity to try new things. It's okay to go wrong.
Fail-joy: Allowing the employee to try new things with pleasure and learn from them. Making mistakes is allowed.

A good learning climate, strengthen what works!

Scientific research shows that when effective behavior is identified and it is indicated when employees make good use of their talents, this leads to a performance improvement of 35% on average! These performances decrease by as much as 23% when the emphasis is placed on mistakes made. Make use of employees' strengths (strengthen what works!) and see mistakes as learning moments for further developing these strengths or developing new ones.

"Mistakes are only mistakes when we have to keep doing the same thing. On an assembly line, for example. In our contemporary work, usually in the form of projects, they are an irrational fear. After all, every project, every day even, is different. See mistakes as non-working options and there is nothing left to be afraid of."
(Jeroen Busscher)