Just as students benefit from developing a positive, growth-oriented approach to failure, teachers thrive when they are supported in the same way. Instructional coaches and administrators can play a critical role in fostering this mindset. Teachers need opportunities to embrace challenges, experiment with new ideas, and persist through setbacks, in a safe environment. Too often, professional learning focuses on delivering strategies and best practices without acknowledging the discomfort and vulnerability that come with trying something new. Explore seven keys to “successful failure.”
“A Moment of Perspective,” Christina (Kiki) Peterson
“Why Failing Well is the Key to Success,” Megan McArdle
“7 Keys to Successful Failure,” Mindy Crary
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Podcast Transcript:
[00:00:00.000] – Steve [Intro]
Welcome to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast. As instructional coaches and school leaders, you are tasked with guiding continuous teacher growth to create student success. This podcast looks to support you with strategies from experienced guests, as well as my own insights that I’ve gathered over the years. I’m thrilled to have you with us. Thanks for tuning in.
[00:00:29.640] – Steve
Coaching Teachers to Fail Successfully. Just as students benefit from developing a positive, growth-oriented approach to failure, teachers need the same in their continued learning. Instructional coaches and administrators can play a critical role in fostering that mindset. Like our students, teachers need opportunities to embrace challenges, experiment with new ideas, and persist through setbacks in a safe environment. Too often, professional development focuses on delivering strategies and best practices without acknowledging the discomfort and vulnerability that come with trying something new. The following statement ends a post that I read titled, “A Moment of Perspective” by Christina Kiki-Peterson: “Every emotion holds potential. With humor and positivity, we can turn frustration into curiosity and transform challenges into opportunities.” Peterson’s post illustrated that the way we choose to frame negative feelings like frustration or boredom can make an important difference. She tells the story of a science teacher who students faltered during experiments. The moment something went wrong, the students would say, “The equipment is broken,” and they’d walk away. They feared failure and didn’t see its value in scientific discovery. Their teacher wanted the students to embrace curiosity and see failure not as the end, but as a stepping stone to learning.
[00:02:32.570] – Steve
To shift their mindset, she introduced them to stories of scientists whose groundbreaking discoveries emerged after years of mistakes. While enjoying the stories, the students sometimes mocked the failures. And the teacher thought that this revealed the true challenge, a fear of vulnerability. The teacher decided to add humor to the mix. She designed experiments that required multiple tries, things like building a tower of blocks. And she encouraged the class to cheer joyfully every time the tower fell over, reframing failure as a step toward success. This playful approach transformed her classroom into a safe space where students could laugh, experiment, and try again. She wanted to help students reframe these experiences from frustration to laughter and joyfully celebrate experimentation and learning. I found a reinforcing example in an article from the Cato Institute written by Megan McArdle, titled, “Why Failing Well is the Key to Success.” McArdle describes an activity where a variety of groups, from American students to Taiwanese telecom engineers were given 20 pieces of spaghetti, a meter of tape, a marshmallow, and a piece of string. The teams had 18 minutes to create the tallest freestanding structure that would support a marshmallow. Unsurprisingly, the engineers did very well.
[00:04:24.510] – Steve
MBA students finished dead last because apparently they spent too much time arguing who was going to be in charge of the spaghetti. The lawyers didn’t do very well either. But the most successful group turned out to be the kindergartens. How did they beat the engineers? By the simple process of experimentation and iteration. They didn’t follow rules. The kindergarteners were the only group to ask for more spaghetti. And because they had more spaghetti, they just dove in and started creating. They ruthlessly called out what didn’t work and discarded it. With that process, what Silicon Valley calls “failing fast,” these five-year-olds ended up with structures that were on average a full inch taller than what the engineers had achieved. Those kindergarteners failed their way to success with humor and positivity. I can imagine them laughing without any teacher direction as an attempted crashed. These abilities tend to be addressed more often in extracurricular activities. If we want students to practice and be conscious of these abilities, long-term project-based and real learning activities need to be built into our learning opportunities. In an article titled Seven keys to successful failure, Mindy Crary describes seven abilities of achievers that enable them to persevere and keep moving forward.
[00:06:08.250] – Steve
In order to build these abilities in our students, we need to create the same opportunities for their teachers. Here are the seven keys for failing successfully. Here’s the first one, reject rejection. When falling short, rather than labeling oneself a failure, they learn from mistakes in their judgment or behavior. Coaching conversations can help teachers separate their personal identity from professional results. For example, when a teacher shares that a new questioning strategy fell flat, the coach can respond with curiosity rather than evaluation. “What do you think happened?” “What were the students doing doing or not doing that gave you that impression?” This shift reframes failure as a puzzle to be explored rather than a judgment to be feared. Coaches reinforce that trying something new and seeing it not go perfectly is a sign of growth, not a sign of incompetence. The next key, take blame. When playing the blame game, pointing fingers, one loses the opportunity to learn from a failure. A strong coaching relationship allows space for honest reflection. Instead of externalizing problems, “the students weren’t ready for this,” or “there wasn’t enough time,” a coach might gently guide the teacher to consider, “how does knowing that change your plan?”
[00:07:59.800] – Steve
This helps the teacher develop ownership of their learning without shame, which builds the capacity for problem solving. Here’s another key – seeing failure as temporary. Putting mistakes into perspective. Achievers see failure as a momentary event. In coaching cycles, particularly those that span several weeks or months, it’s powerful to document and revisit moments where progress was once uncertain. A teacher might have said, “This isn’t working” three weeks ago, but now their students are engaging more consistently. Reflecting on that shift helps teachers internalize that temporary failure can be part of an upward trajectory. When failing successfully, we set realistic expectations. Unrealistic goals doom people to failure. Everyone fails, so we should prepare to deal with setbacks. Coaches can help teachers unpack whether their goals are appropriate for their current context. For example, a teacher who’s trying to shift from mostly lecture-based to student-led discussions. On the first attempt may find that they only gained a five-minute conversation when they were originally looking for 20 minutes. But that’s a win. Naming and celebrating incremental success is an important key. Here’s another – focusing on strengths. People who recognize and act on their strengths have a lower rate of failure than those who try to fix their weaknesses.
[00:10:02.440] – Steve
This aligns well with strength-based coaching. If a teacher has a strong rapport with students but is hesitant to try a project-based learning activity, the coach can spotlight the teacher’s strength. Your students trust you. That relationship is a great platform to launch something new. You’re in a good place to try this. Framing new practices around existing strengths gives teachers the confidence to stretch. Those who fail successfully vary approaches to achievement. They keep trying, and changing their approach. When a strategy doesn’t work, coaches model flexibility. They say, “Let’s try a different angle,” or, “What would happen if we change the grouping or we tweak the questions?” This reinforces experimentation rather than fixating on getting it right the first time. Here’s the last key – bouncing back. Achievers learn from failures, realizing that the past can’t be changed. They press forward. Here’s where the mindset becomes critical. Coaches support resilience by helping teachers reflect forward. Instead of what went wrong, the conversation becomes, “What’s next?” “What did we gain from this attempt?” Coaching is future-oriented. That’s what differentiates it from evaluation. In coaching, feedback becomes feed forward. Like the kindergarten in the Marshmallow Tower experiment, teachers need opportunities to test, adjust, and refine their practices without fear of judgment.
[00:12:11.170] – Steve
When coaching conversations normalize struggle and celebrate learning through iteration, they mirror the resilience building that we hope to instill in our students. Coaching can help teachers fail well by encouraging reflection rather than self-criticism and shifting the focus from rigid success to adaptive learning. When a lesson doesn’t go as planned, instead of framing it as a failure, the conversation can explore what was learned and what could be adjusted. PLCs can be a great setting for those conversations. It’s an opportunity to practice Mindy Crary’s, Keys to Successful Failure – rejecting, rejection, taking ownership, seeing setbacks as temporary, and varying approaches. A school culture that builds these principles for both students and educators fosters deeper engagement, innovation, and lasting growth. Let’s remember that as coaches, we need to practice the same keys to promote our own ability to fail well. We need to have a sense of achievement, persevering, and moving forward. A coaching growth mindset promoting learning for everyone. The links to the articles I mentioned in this podcast are in the lead-in. Let me know other strategies that you use for your own coaching or for the teachers that you are coaching. You can always reach me at barkleypd.com
[00:14:07.630] – Steve
Thanks for listening.
[00:14:12.120] – Steve [Outro]
Thanks for listening, folks. I’d love to hear what you’re pondering. You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn at Steve Barkley, or send me your questions and find my videos and blogs at barkleypd.com.
