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2. This session Why learning from failure is worthwhile
Examples of stories of learning from failure
Tool to help you learn from failure
This session

3. We all have examples of failure both in our life and in our work
Sometimes we feel we have failed,
Sometimes we feel others have failed us.
But culture of putting a brave face on things
Fear of damaging relationships/reputation/funding
Evaluations based on what questions rather than narratives of how and why
Limits learning and means we repeat past mistakes
Learning from failure

4. Narratives/stories matter!
Facts and figures might provide evidence
But stories help us share, learn and even persuade
Principle of “social learning” and “critical reflection”
Supports honest conversations
With people of different points of view
To understand processes not just outcomes
Aims
What do you hope to achieve and why?
Actions
What did you try out to achieve your aims
“Failure”
How was it different to plan, what went wrong
Learning
How could you do things differently
Revisions
Do the aims change or the actions?

5. Sharing stories of failure
What you need to make or tell a good story
Production team - who is involved in creating the narrative?
Editing - managing differences of opinion
The Audience - how and with who you share this story
Components of any good (convincing) story
Setting the scene - where did it take place
Cast of characters - who was involved
The plot - what happened/went wrong
The moral - what did you learn and how could you do things differently in future
Sharing stories of failure

6. The setting is an old mining town in the North of England, which like so many has suffered years of neglect and under investment

7. But the council and a TV company believed that art could regenerate the town, bringing hope back to the people who lived there and attract newcomers to move there….plans were drawn up, the community were consulted, funds were raised, projects were delivered and everyone was happy…or were they???
£9 million raised
21 different funding pots
11 projects
97% community awareness

8. Same story different ending
“ Have you seen what she created for us? We call it the finger because her work stuck a finger up at us” Community activist
The profile of the project caused jealousy across the district and raised expectations which the council found it hard to meet….despite the community involvement there were tensions over the representativeness of self appointed community champions. It wasn’t always easy to get agreement and it was hard to define who the community was to consult with…as a result each of the projects used different processes to involve the community and some left a nasty taste…..

9. The moral of the story (learning)
Processes matter!
Dangers of disengagement through consultation without decision making powers
Risks of allowing “usual suspects” to dominate
Need diverse tools to reach diverse audiences
Space for dissent to support new ideas
Evidence of change to keep momentum
Repeat intervention (not projects) to build trust
Money to make things happen
Deliberation, feeding forward and feeding back to help people understand choices

10. Richard and Bill will share an example of failure experienced in their area – then its over to you!
You might think of an activity which didn’t work as expected or that the whole structure/programme needs to change.  
How would you capture and tell the story of what went wrong and what you learnt?  (you may prefer to illustrate what happened visually or just tell us the story in your own words) But please consider the following
Where did this failure take place (set the scene)
Who was involved and who was left out (the characters)
What happened and what went wrong (the plot)
What did you learn and how did you or could you do things differently in future (the moral)
Now imagine you were doing this in your community and think about the process
Who is normally involved in creating the narrative about your programme and how could you involve a wider range of voices (the production team)
How do you manage differences of opinion (editing)
And how and with who would you share this story (the audience)
Now it’s your turn