Ep.5 Why Failure Matters

JobTlks Podcast is an emerging effort to have a positive influence on Firehouse culture and fireground tactics. In episode 5 the JobTlks crew discusses the importance of failure in both personal and professional development, and why understanding failure is critical to achieving success both on and off the fire-ground. The beginning of the show starts with a light-hearted video about the importance of failure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fek6iJlm8s&t=102s From there the team engages in an open discussion about the importance of failure to inform the path to success, and why failure is equally important and necessary in building competent, and resilient firefighters. The team’s discussion centers around the idea that “failure is something you should be good at” and how it helps forge one’s ability to overcome adversity and develop positive character traits such as the ability to take ownership of one’s failures, self-diagnose, as well as develop and implement solutions to complex problems both as an individual and a member of the team. The team then focuses on the idea of developing and reinforcing a resilient mindset. Free-flowing conversation occurs regarding ideas such as why failure accompanied by the appropriate mindset breeds resiliency and adaptability, experience failure as a part of building effective teams, and why leaders should intentionally place their teams in the position to experience failure in training, noting that teams who manage failure efficiently maximize the ability to overcome adversity when it counts. This wraps up Episode 5 for the JobTlks team. The team signs off with the usual: we are user-driven and hope to positively influence the conversation on culture, tactics, and all that makes the fire service “the best job you’ll ever have.”