In teams as in chorus: singing with joy even when we make mistakes

«N’ayez pas peur de vous tromper, soyez à fond, prenez du plaisir… même si on se trompe l’important c’est d’être à fond ! Le public pardonne aux gens sympas, pas à ceux qui restent là paralysés sur scène.»

‘Don't be afraid of making mistakes, give it all you’ve got, have fun... even if you make mistakes, the important thing is to give it all you’ve got! The audience forgives nice people, not those who stand there paralyzed on stage."

With these words Astryd Cottet, the choir director at the Fontainebleau School of Music, prepared us for our first time on stage.

They struck me immediately. For the encouragement to enjoy oneself that they contained and for the way in which they redefined error: no longer as a threat to be avoided at all costs, but as a possibility inherent in the very process of expressing oneself. Error not as failure, but as a setback that, if experienced with authenticity and enthusiasm, can even become part of the experience.

On stage I felt that mixture of adrenaline and fear that goes with every performance. Yet the Director's advice kept ringing in my mind: ‘soyez à fond, prenez du plaisir’. Singing with conviction, trusting myself, staying in the groove, accepting the possibility of stumbling, losing the rhythm, missing an entrance, was more important than desperately trying to be perfect. And singing in a choir means that, even if I make a mistake, I can feel supported by the group and pick up where I left off as if nothing had happened. It's precisely when we consciously allow ourselves the luxury of making a mistake that we can also discover something new: an unexpected note that adds colour to the harmony, a deviation that opens up new paths, a variation that opens up a new interpretation. Above all, we can learn to make mistakes without being paralysed by fear or shame, simply saying to oneself ‘I made a mistake, what have I learnt?’ and also ‘we made a mistake together, what shall we do next time?’.

I often find myself working on this issue in organisations at the moment. And sometimes I observe that, if in declarations of intent error must be tolerated, exalted, analysed, even sought after because it is necessary for learning, in reality it often has a very bad reputation, especially in a world that rewards perfection and efficiency – the classic gap between espoused and enacted values theorised by Edgar Schein. But what if we tried to really see it with different eyes? What if we welcomed it as an ally, a mentor that guides us towards a deeper understanding of ourselves and our abilities?

For not only can making « mistakes » release unsuspected new possibilities, but, by truly allowing mistakes as a possibility, we greatly reduce stress levels, bad climate in the team, sick leave and therefore naturally promote, at medium to long term, well-being, performance, and resilience.

Another valuable lesson that I'm learning from these months of singing, related to the possibility of making mistakes, is the encouragement not to use the partition. I find it very difficult to get rid of it, to risk not remembering the words or notes, especially when there are no words and from alto we find ourselves having to do nothing but ‘uhuhuhuhu’ to accompany the rest of the choir. But finally the discovery of flow is coming and the pleasure of being ‘inside’ the music repays a few false notes…at the end this pleasure is one of the ingredients of a better result.

In organisations, the fear of making mistakes is often the biggest obstacle to innovation. Teams that feel pressured to avoid making mistakes end up repeating safe patterns, strictly using the partition, and avoiding taking any initiative. On the contrary, groups where there is real psychological safety, where people feel free to express themselves without fear of being judged, are the ones that dare, experiment and find solutions outside the box. These are the groups where you can admit when you make a mistake, where individual and collective errors are openly analysed without blame, recriminations or resentment – but rather, in a very business-like manner, with an appropriate debriefing and learning process, welcoming the error in order to compost it into fertile ground for the next iteration. In other words, this invites us to let go of the old mental model of “success is good, mistake is bad”, but rather embrace both as equal experiences from which we can learn how to give the best we can give.

And this is where leadership comes in. Just like our fantastic Astryd, who encouraged us to dare and make mistakes without fear, leadership should have this function of containing different emotions, of guiding the creation of a safe environment in which teams can freely make mistakes, be out of tune, deviate from the partition, return to singing together... It's not about encouraging carelessness, but about creating a space where mistakes are seen for what they are: a necessary stage in the process of learning, innovation and regeneration of thought.

Because in the end, in music as in organisations, what really counts is not the absence of errors, but the ability to move forward with confidence, transforming every stumbling block into an opportunity for growth.