Learning From Near Misses

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲:

Some of the most valuable lessons come from failures that never happened.

𝗜𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.

Many hospitals and surgical teams pay close attention to near misses — situations where something could have gone wrong, but didn't.

These events are documented, reviewed, and discussed because they reveal weaknesses in processes, communication, or decision-making before harm occurs.

𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁.
A customer almost leaves but stays.

A major error is caught just before reaching the client.

A cash flow issue is identified a week before it becomes critical.

A project recovers after coming dangerously close to failure.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲:

Near misses reveal vulnerabilities while there is still time to address them.

When organisations ignore them, they lose the opportunity to learn at a low cost.

The same weaknesses remain in the system until eventually they produce an outcome that can no longer be reversed.

The strongest teams do not only analyse failures.

They study the 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 that surfaced before the failure did.

If you're unsure, ask:

"𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀?"

How does your organisation capture lessons from near misses before they become real problems?