Page 22 - The European Business Review

Sustainable Business

the future and the common good by making it as neutralising the fear of what is new, adopting
ZRUWKZKLOH IRU LQGLYLGXDOV ERWK IURP D ÀQDQFLDO one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals
or career standpoint and from the standpoint of as a corporate mantra, identifying innovation heroes
their identities as professionals (Bhattacharya and and ambassadors in and outside of the company,
6
Polman 2017) . They try to create workplaces in involving providers, universities and customers in
which employees do not have to check their human- the innovation journey, being courageous in the
itarian or environmental commitments at the door, drive for innovation, nurturing people’s creativity, as
DQG ZKHUH VXVWDLQDELOLW\ DQG SURÀWDELOLW\ REMHFWLYHV well as involving creative people from other sectors
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go hand in hand (Polman and Bhattacharya 2016). in all innovation projects.
Employees in such companies are engaged to serve In 2015, to counteract the stigma of failure and
a larger purpose – creating a better world. win over the resistance that surrounds failure in the
The cases of enlightened companies show that workplace, Enel launched “My Best Failure” – an
this engagement around the common good often online platform that invites colleagues from all over
happens at unexpected moments and in unexpected the world to share their “best failures”. These include
places. When one of us (Bhattacharya) interviewed efforts to launch an innovative product, introducing
the Enel CEO in June 2016, and he told us about a new work technique and even trivial calculation
his personal epiphany at a dessert, we knew the errors. The platform has catalogued Enel’s setbacks,
company is one to watch out for. When one of us expanding the overall corporate experience. The
(Bhattacharya) found himself at a big ceremony in LQLWLDWLYH VHUYHV DV D ÀUVW VWHS WRZDUGV EXLOGLQJ D
the Enel headquarters in Rome, where employees culture of failure, where people are not afraid to
were receiving awards from the same CEO for their speak about their errors, but are open to discussing
business failures, we knew we are onto a new story them publicly with the aim of avoiding similar errors
of business. in the future. On the other hand, to preserve open
and frank internal debate and exchange, the company
Letting Them Fail: The Enel Case ensures that management does not assume a judg-
Celebrating failure
Fear is the main obstacle and the worst enemy to and encouraging mental attitude.
change, and if companies want to innovate and to innovation at Common failures in all types of businesses are
companies can
experiment in order to stay competitive, but also aid employee normally set aside with a mixture of embarrass-
respond to the challenges such as climate change or engagement, ment and a desire to have another go without truly
because it contributes
scarce resources, they have to take risks and work UHÁHFWLQJ RQ WKH OHVVRQ DW KDQG ´0\ %HVW )DLOXUHµ
to the feeling of
on spreading a blame-free culture within the corpo- psychological safety takes a different approach: each edition invites
rate environment. and availability. people to share their own particular failure, and
Three years ago Enel adopted an Open awards the most useful ones. The winners of last
,QQRYDWLRQ DSSURDFK WR ´ÁLS LWV SRLQW RI YLHZµ DQG year’s edition included those who wanted to opti-
capitalise on what it saw as a source of tremendous mise road repair procedures after excavation work;
growth by dedicating a single organisational unit those who involuntarily invited 37,000 people to
WR WKH PDQDJHPHQW RI LQIRUPDWLRQ ÁRZV ZLWK DOO enroll in a social network that no one was familiar
its main stakeholders. Radically changing the way with, and even one person who failed to convince
the company shares information and approaches their colleagues about the rather unorthodox way of
the taboo of failure required a series of new prac- improving the company’s organisational chart. The
tices: creating spin-offs to manage new businesses, next edition will kick off in January 2018 and will be
measuring innovation KPIs all around the company, followed by an award ceremony, giving the company
identifying innovation managers for every function, another batch of important lessons.
business line and area, and connecting those people The mistakes shared on the “My Best Failure” plat-
ZLWK D FKLHI LQQRYDWLRQ RIÀFHU ZKR UHSRUWV GLUHFWO\ form were made in an attempt to do something new,
to the CEO. To improve the company’s appeal and something that had never been tried before; a neces-
therefore expand its network of experiences, Enel sary risk for a company that truly believes in innovation
has embarked upon a challenging but rewarding for a sustainable future, and the only way to multiply
transformation, that requires shifts in key areas such its chances of success. On the one hand, shining a

22 The European Business Review January - February 2018