Failing in Hotlanta: Applied Mechanics’ “Productive Failure” Workshop at Turner Broadcasting Network

By Mary Tuomanen

FAILING IN HOTLANTA!

Last month, we had the privilege of teaching a workshop in Productive Failure at Turner Broadcasting.

Turner is known for some great things (Among them, those bastions of excellence, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.) We knew we were going to encounter some creative types. The workshop was part of an initiative called Make You Matter, in which the company brings together employees from all departments and all sub-networks of Turner Broadcasting.

Together, in a Thunder-dome-esque trial of wits and wills, we forced them to FAIL.

We made them articulate a list of Impossible Tasks.
Then we said said, “Accomplish these.”

Once they had tried that, we did a second round, making each Impossible Task MORE impossible.

The result was some amazing warmth, collaboration, trust, humor, and willingness to push through uncomfortable moments to create group solutions to enormous problems. We worked at cultivating a joy in failure, one that allowed new solutions to present themselves and encouraged the opposite of the normal Pavlovian despair we feel when facing difficulty. The workshop participants were generous, witty people who threw themselves into such Impossible Tasks as 1) licking their elbows 2) eliminating hatred 3) creating 100% voter turnout and 4) teleporting snacks.

Here is a favorite quote from our discussion afterwards:

I think about traditional brainstorming, I think we all know how to do that. And I wonder if we can brainstorm in a different way, to say, let’s think of the most impossible things first. Not just what’s in the realm of possibility… even if people think it’s crazy, to say, ‘let’s give it a week. Play it out, see if it’s possible to make what seems impossible reality.’ And you might find you get some richer conversations.

We felt extremely encouraged by the willingness, creativity and astute self-critique responses of the Turner Broadcasting folks. Our delightful liaison, Amy, toured us around the campus and we were intrigued by the way the company made efforts to create a nurturing environment for its workers — a feeling of collectivity and pride in their work. And of course, we could not resist taking a peek at the Cartoon Network floor, where Tommy made some pretty wild shots at penguin mini-golf.

We left feeling that we had learned a great deal from the workshop participants. Hotlanta, you fail so good!

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