1 DISCUSSION DUE IN 24 HOURS
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Chapter9Week5.pptxEffective Crisis Communication
Chapter 9 Learning through failure
Ulmer, R., Sellnow, T., and Seeger, M. (2019). Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA.
Some examples of failures
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Failing to learn from failure
Predictable surprises – leadership fails or ignores evidence that problem could occur
Unpredictable surprises – occur with no warning signs
4 ways orgs fail to learn
Scanning failures – failure to pay attention inside and out of org to potential problems.
Integration failures – failure to put the puzzle pieces together.
Incentive failures – failure to provide sufficient rewards to report or deal with potential problems.
Learning failures – failure to draw important lessons from crises.
Opportunity 1 – Learning from failure prevents future crisis
Failure is an essential part of the learning process
Do not overlook the minor failures
Too often we fail to admit to failure.
Learn best from “Intelligent failures”
Result from thoughtfully planned actions
Have uncertain outcomes
Are modest in scale
Executed and responded to with eagerness
Take place in domains that are familiar enough to permit effective learning
Opportunity 2 – Avoid crisis through vicarious learning
Observe and learn from the failure of similar organizations
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Opportunity 3 – Preservation of organizational memory through training can prevent crises
Learning has little use if we forget seminal moments
Requires the exchange of information - imperfect
3 steps to organizational memory
Acquiring knowledge
Distributing knowledge
Acting on knowledge
Opportunity 4 – Must be willing to “Unlearn”
Unlearning means more than just forgetting.
Changing ways can be difficult
Fallacy of “Tradition”
3 results of Unlearning
Expand options
Contracting options
Grafting
Summary
Opportunity 1 – Learn through our failures
Opportunity 2 – Learn vicariously through failures of others
Opportunity 3 – Organizational memory used can help prevent failures
Opportunity 4 – Unlearn those things that may constrain us
