Lessons (Not Yet) Learned: Stories about learning from

failure from the private, public

and nonprofit sectors

Marilyn Darling, Partner, Fourth Quadrant Partners

Bob Giloth, Vice President,Annie E. Casey Foundation

Lessons (Not Yet) Learned

Stories about learning from failure from the private, public and nonprofit sectors

World Bank Knowledge ConversationsOctober 25, 2012

Marilyn Darling, Fourth Quadrant Partners

Stories from the Public and Private Sectors

Large National Health Organization

F500 Transportation Company

“Always On” Military Organization

Large Regional Electric Utility

PUBL

IC S

ECTO

RPR

IVAT

E SE

CTO

R

What does this mean for the World Bank?

• See delivery as a scientific process

• Focus learning around your biggest delivery challenges or opportunities – and learn from both success and failure

• Focus on learning how to improve future results, not how to avoid past failures

• Marry institutional and operational learning

• Create a heartbeat by making learning practices fit-for-purpose and team-driven

• Lead with humility, curiosity and courage

L E SS O N S ( N O T Y E T ) L E A R N E D :

S T O R I E S A B O U T L E A R N I N G F R O M FA I LU R E

F R O M T H E P R I VAT E , P U B L I C A N D N O N P R O F I T

S E C T O R S

R O B E R T G I L O T HV I C E P R E S I D E N T, A N N I E E . C A S E Y F O U N D AT I O N

O C T O B E R 2 5 , 2 0 1 2T H E W O R L D B A N K

Mistakes to Success

Behind Our Mistakes

Family-Centered Community Change (FCCC)

EARLIER CASEY INITIATIVES

FCCC APPROACH

LESSONS SHAPE NEW DIRECTIONS

1) To Investing as Strategic Partner

2) To Joining Existing Local

Momentum

3) To Focusing on a “Nested”

Two-Generation Strategy

4) To Targeting Population Cohorts

within a Specific Neighborhood

5) To Housing as a Core Platform 6) To Strategic Co-Investor

(smaller funding commitments)

1) From Foundation as Lead

2) From Starting from Scratch

3) From Pursuing Multiple

Issues at Once

4) From Targeting Large

Neighborhoods

5) From Housing as Secondary

6) From Primary Funder

What Can Leaders Do?

Become a ROLE MODEL for

learning from mistakes

Show how learning from mistakes CONTRIBUTES TO MISSION and good governance

Create SAFE SPACES for talkingabout mistakes at all levels

Institutionalize NEW FORMS OF LEARNING FROM MISTAKES in the life of the organization

I HAVE A LOT OF RESULTS.

I KNOW

Several Thousand Things

THAT WON’T WORK.

“

~ Thomas Edison

Some additional slides…To continue the conversation

Operational Learning Leaders Line management or member of the team Catalyst for tracking results, learning and

adjusting, and sharing lessons Ensure that institutional learning is used

by delivery teams

Plan

Reflect

Act

Adjust

OperationalLearning

Roles:

Share

Institutional Leaders Establish quality delivery standards Evaluate impact Synthesize knowledge and supply

organizational learnings back to delivery teams

Learning and Evaluation Systems

Compile

Hypotheses

Analyze

Identify

Data

Insig

hts

Opportunities

Apply

Formulate

Marrying Institutional and Operational Learning

Adapted with permission from presentation by Larry

Karasevich, ExxonMobil

Short-Cycle

Long-Cycle

Marilyn Darling and Charles Parry© 2010,Signet Research & Consulting, LLC

Leadership stance and its impact