Minisode 1: How to Throw a “Failure Party”
Failed it! Fam – Have you ever thrown your team a failure party? What is a failure party? Why should you throw one?
Welcome to our first of many minisodes on the failed it! podcast. Today we have our Podcast Manager, Rachel Oliveros, on to talk through the importance of these fabulous failure parties, as well as what to expect from these mini-episodes moving forward. Welcome to failed it! (minisodes).
About the Guest: Rachel Oliveros is a Loyola University Chicago alumni where she majored in Marketing and studied abroad in Rome. Rachel has had a history with improve it! prior to working on the podcast, starting as an intern to a Client Services Associate. And now, as the Podcast Manager of failed it!, she works closely with Erin to do all things podcast and help listeners understand that you must fail in order to improve. On top of being creative with show graphics and communicating with inspiring podcast guests, she also enjoys working in Digital Advertising Sales with ViacomCBS. Reach out to her if you're interested in being a guest on The failed it! Podcast!
About the Host: Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the failed it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
Minisode 1 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Welcome to failed it!
Erin (00:09):
Oh my God. Rachel, our podcast manager. I'm so excited to have you on this show.
Rachel (00:16):
Yay. Hello. I'm so excited too.
Erin (00:19):
Oh my God. Okay. Well, let's tell the failed at fam really quick, how you got started with improve it. How you came to be the podcast manager. Tell us all the things.
Rachel (00:33):
Oh my gosh. Yes. So we're about to take a trip down memory lane because we go way back. I feel like we've known each other for a while. About six years now.
Erin (00:41):
Yeah. Way back, way back.
Rachel (00:44):
So it basically all started my sophomore year of college. Cause I was looking for an internship and I clearly remember my sorority sister shout out Andrea. Telling me about a really cool gal that she worked for, who owned an improv based company and had an improv bachelor show. And after hearing that I immediately knew like I was in, I want to meet this woman, this cool gal, whoever she is.
Erin (01:13):
And then you met me and you're like, Nope. Keep going. I want, I want you to get to your interview. Can you tell the failed it! Fam about your interview?
Rachel (01:23):
Oh my gosh. Yes. So I feel like this was the star of our fields together because, so I walk into this building. It's a coworking space where improve it work and we sit in this corner so that we're not distracted by other people or we don't distract other people working to do this interview. And as I'm like going through my resume and answering Erin's questions, all you can hear in the background are like toilets flushing. And from there, I just feel like it was the start. Like it was a match made in heaven. We broke the ice and now we're like best friends.
Erin (02:05):
I was like, have you ever been to an interview where you hear toilets flushing? Not once, not twice, but probably like 700 times.
Rachel (02:12):
It was so funny.
Erin (02:13):
Okay. Well we flushed our fears away and created this, this budding relationship. And then I want you to tell our failed it! Family how we always answer the phone. How did - tell them the improve it story real quick?
Rachel (02:29):
Okay. So this is an inside joke that has stuck with me ever since I started really working for improvement and I was attending my first workshop, shout out improve it. I totally pushed myself out of my comfort zone, but highly recommend. But anyways, when you enter this building to get into the workshop, there's a doorbell. And you know, like when you answer the doorbell, you have to say like who you are. But instead of saying my name or like whatever, I just go improve it! That just stuck.
Erin (03:08):
That is literally how John, my husband, when he's, when I say Rachel, he goes improve it. His favorite story. I love it too. We always say it. So you went to Rome after your internship and got a big girl job. When you came back and then tell the failed it! Fam how you came to be our podcast manager.
Rachel (03:30):
Yeah. So after I studied abroad, I obviously kept in close connection with you because you have proven to be my lifelong mentor.
Erin (03:38):
Stop. Keep going. Okay, stop.
Rachel (03:41):
I remember you had Jackson and I really wanted to meet him. So I came over and I remember you pitching the idea of a podcast, but little did I know that you were going to ask me to be your podcast manager like a year later when it came to life and now here we are!
Erin (03:56):
Here we are. A year later, Rachel! Failed it! Family behind the scenes. Rachel has been putting together the show, graphics, the show notes. She listens to every single episode, transcribes them. She does all the things. She helps find these amazing guests. So we couldn't do this without you. And we're coming up literally on the one year anniversary of failed it! Rachel.
Rachel (04:24):
I know so exciting.
Erin (04:26):
Well, okay. So if you could describe failed it in three words, what would it be?
Rachel (04:33):
Okay. So, I mean, I know the ins and outs of every podcast episode as Erin just mentioned. So you can, you can trust these words that I'm going to say.
Erin (04:44):
Yes, she knows for real, she knows everything.
Rachel (04:48):
I think the three words that I would use to describe this podcast is real, relatable, and inspiring. And I can unpack that for you just a little bit too.
Erin (04:58):
Yeah. Do it do it.
Rachel (05:00):
I would say it's real because our episodes and our guests talk about things that you typically would not normally talk about on a daily basis, or even like on any conversation that you have and our guests never sugar coat anything. And our audience basically gets the inside scoop of like how you can learn from their own professional and personal mistakes. And then it's relatable because no matter what episode you listened to or what guests you're learning about, there's always something in there that anyone can relate to no matter who you are or where you work for. And then lastly inspiring because every single guest that we've had on, they talk about so much that it pushes me to want to be a better person after hearing their own stories and experiences that they learned from. And now that I have learned from as well.
Erin (05:54):
It's so true, every guest is so different, right? Like they've been, you can you have you talk about failures and it's such a broad topic. You get so many different types of people on this show with so many different things that they've done in their lifetime and Rach, you really know, you really, really know every word of this show. So I would, I would say real relatable, inspiring that that makes sense to me. I want to talk too about what we're doing right now. This is our first minisode. And you and I had talked about this for a while. We kind of toyed around with these, we've asked members of the failed it! Families - should we do these? So can you tell tell, am I I'm living in the South? Can you tell the the failed it! Family why we decided to do these minisodes and what they can expect from these minisodes and you don't have to do it in the Southern end, but if you want, you can.
Rachel (06:53):
Well thank you. I don't think I can do it. But honestly, we just wanted to give our failed it! Fam more. I feel like these minisodes are meant to give them more tips and tricks in a short form way to help them grow in their own professional and personal lives and bonus points that also gives them the opportunity to hear from our very own improve it! Special improv professionals on how improv is so necessary, no matter who you are or what you do.
Erin (07:25):
Yes! Improve it! Professionals. So that's true. We're going to have, we have Rachel on today, she's going to come back on some of our mini episodes and then we're going to have members of the failed of the failed at family and the improvement family. On this show, we have about 22 improv professionals that help us facilitate all of our offerings who are in Chicago. Now we have some in New York, LA, Charlotte, North Carolina. So we're going to bring them on the show to help teach our failed it! Fam and these little minisodes. And I don't you and I have talked about ways to do this, and I think this is the perfect way. So I am so excited to have these minisodes. And today we want to give our failed it! Fam a little inside scoop about what we just did internally at improve it. So we through failed it! Family, a failure party for the internal team.
Erin (08:21):
This happened, it was Epic, Rach. I'm going to give the download of what it was. And then I want you to tell our failed it! Fam, why we should throw our, why they should throw a failure party for their team, because it was probably one of my favorite things we've done. We do a team building initiative almost every month. Team builders gotta team build. You know what I mean? So we decided instead of making a vision board of the past quarter, or looking ahead to the quarter, let's take a reflection on Q1 in 2021. And instead looking at a vision board, let's create a failure board of the things that we failed at in 2021 in Q1. So we did that. We shared our board internally. There's about five of us internally. So we each made a PowerPoint and we put little pictures on the PowerPoint of just things that happened that we failed at.
Erin (09:17):
We described each picture and after each fail, we said, which you, if you're a failed it! Fam member, you know, this term fail yeah. And so it was so cool to hear what we all went through this past quarter, but to look at it through the lens of our failures and really celebrate that. So Rachel, you just went through this. I want you to share with the failed it! Family three reasons, three reasons. Let me say that - three reasons why they should throw a failure party for their team. And I'm totally open to your top three reasons here. I know they're going to be great. So failed it! Fam here are Rachel's top three reasons why you should throw a failure party for your team.
Rachel (10:05):
Personally, I am a perfectionist and I always strive to never make mistakes. So whenever I do make a mistake, it tends to hit me really hard internally. And I feel bad for those that it affected or feel like I let down my team. So I think that these failure parties are so important because you can get it off your chest to your team. And from there, you then will receive the support from your team that your mistake really wasn't a big deal. And that everyone's been there before, because literally nobody is perfect and we're all human. And in the media industry, which is my full-time job. When we, whenever we start to get overwhelmed or things aren't going right, we always say that we aren't saving lives, which is so true. And we just need to take a step back and learn from our mistakes and know that you're you aren't alone.
Rachel (10:55):
And everybody's been there before, which brings me to my next reason. A failure party for your team can help you figure out the mistakes you made and how they helped you grow and learn. I mean, it's like how you always say in improv, mistakes are gifts. So let's share our gifts with the team and grow together. And I'd say that the final reason that you should throw a failure party is that it'll ultimately bring your team closer together. I think it's truly a bonding experience and you're sharing vulnerable things that have happened in the past quarter or year that you ultimately failed at. So after sharing all of that, you'll learn so much from your teammates and gain empathy and a new perspective on them. And like I said before, you'll feel less alone. You'll even be inspired by other people's fails. Like for example somebody mentioned that they failed to take breaks away from their screen during the Workday or fail to go outside.
Rachel (11:54):
And I realized that I too have failed at that. And now that I know that she we're both on that same page, we can connect on that and push each other to be better together. So I would say to wrap that all up, number one is you can get it off your chest, do your mistakes, and receive the support from your team and then help you figure out how those mistakes helped you grow and learn. And then it'll bring your team closer together.
Erin (12:22):
Yeah. Golf, claps, and fail yeah, Rach. So take this failed it! Fam take it to your teams. These minisodes are going to pack a punch. We're going to give you quick and dirty tips, tricks exercises that you can do for your teams, for yourself as a leader. And we hope you take this back and implement it. It's so easy. Grab a blank PowerPoint slide, put some copy and paste some things from Google on there. Show up for your team in a virtual meeting. If you're still working from home and share these fails, because as you just heard from Rachel, it really does make a huge impact. And I'm so glad we did it. It was really fun. It's something different, right? Like we have never done anything like that before, and we're going to keep doing it.
Rachel (13:09):
Yeah. And I mean, just to mention, too definitely do both professional and personal fails.
Erin (13:16):
A hundred percent, because I think just like you alluded to, I think we've, we kind of push those professional fails down when we're talking to our team, because we don't want to talk about what we didn't do well, but that's actually where we were able to really bond and connect the most, I think. And we all, we all talked about that afterwards. How cool it was to hear what we all think we're failing at. So failed it! Fam take it, throw yourselves a failure party. Rachel, thank you for being the best podcast manager in the world and fail. Yeah. Everybody fail yeah.
Rachel (13:53):
Fail yeah.
Erin (13:56):
Hey friends. Thanks for tuning into failed it. I am so happy you were along for the ride. If you enjoyed this show, please head on over to iTunes, leave us a five star review and subscribe to the show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today's show, please take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram at keeping it real deal and share it to your stories so we can bring more people to the failed it. Family. I'll see you next week, but I want to leave you with this thought, what will you fail at today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I'm so proud of you and you are totally failing it. See you next time.