November 24, 2025
Will AI make us smarter or dumber? The insights of Klöpping, Scherder and Online Dialogue
Reflection on Klöpping × Scherder by Simon Buil (Data Analyst at Online Dialogue)
By Dr. Florien Cramwinckel & Isabella Klaassens
Making mistakes. There is no business in the world where mistakes are not made, and there is no human being who goes through life error-free. Yet we seem to expect that of ourselves and each other. Consequently, making mistakes is stressful for most, and admitting mistakes can be even more difficult. At Online Dialogue, we started a monthly “Fuck-up Friday” in 2020. This is where colleagues get a chance to share their mistakes with the rest of the company. We also presented an award for the biggest fuck-up for the first time last December. Colleagues were allowed to vote for the mistake that stuck with them the most and to the “owner” of this mistake was put in the spotlight with an award.
Although it is quite funny to present an award for the biggest fuck-up, it is also a very serious recognition for daring to share your mistakes. In this blog, we explain why we started this and how sharing your mistakes contributes to a positive company culture with a psychologically safe work atmosphere and better performance.
Errors are Inadvertent deviations from plans, goals or feedback processing, or acting incorrectly due to lack of knowledge (Frese & Keith, 2015; Van Dyck et al., 2005). Thus, making a mistake is different from engaging in willful rule-breaking behavior such as fraud or misconduct.
Because mistakes can have negative consequences, many people and organizations try to avoid mistakes altogether. This is also known as a error prevention strategy. This will be familiar to most of us. As humans, we tend to conceal mistakes so we don't feel stupid or embarrassed. We are also afraid of losing face, of appearing incompetent, of receiving a negative performance review or of reducing our chances of promotion (Edmondson, 1999). It is unfortunate that we expect these negative consequences not only for the individual, but also for the organization. In fact, mistakes can have positive consequences in addition to negative ones (Van Dyck et al., 2005).
The positive way of dealing with mistakes is called error management (Van Dyck et al., 2005). Error management assumes that making mistakes is inevitable and focuses on minimizing the negative consequences of (unavoidable) mistakes and increasing the positive consequences. There are a number of practices that fit an error management culture (see Figure 2).
It starts with early detection and ensuring that errors have as little negative impact as possible. For example, consider having a colleague double-check an important sales proposal so that an undercharged rate can be adjusted before it is sent to the customer.
Second, it is important to share mistakes made. If an error is shared with other colleagues, then everyone can double-check their work before it goes out the door. Analyzing and fixing mistakes is also important. Why did this go wrong? Maybe your colleague should have finished the proposal in a hurry because an important phone call came up. Maybe the agreed upon rate was not clearly communicated? It is important to figure out how that mistake crept in so that similar mistakes can be avoided in the future.
Creating an error management culture is highly recommended to encourage employee and organizational growth. It provides an environment of psychological safety to discuss errors, which creates shared understanding and insight and encourages employees to explore, experiment and innovate (Edmondson, 1999, 2003). Also, this culture causes employees to report mistakes more quickly and act responsibly when a mistake is made (Financial Stability Board, 2018; Gronewold et al., 2013; Scholten & Ellemers, 2016). Furthermore, it motivates employees to actively deal with customer feedback and improve processes and products, which ensures service quality (Hofmann and Mark, 2006; Nembhard and Edmondson, 2006). Therefore, creating an error management culture leads to better performance of individuals, teams and the entire organization (Frese & Keith, 2015; Keith & Frese, 2011; Van Dyck et al., 2005).
In 2020, we at Online Dialogue started to adopt these error management practices. The first Friday of the month at 4 p.m. in the afternoon is ‘Fuck-up-Friday.“ Anyone may submit errors, either personally or as a team. For each error, we share with the entire company:
Equally important is how they are responded to. The idea is that we can share these mistakes in a safe environment, where you are not called on or laughed at for your mistakes. That's why we have some rules. The most important rule is that every mistake shared is rewarded with applause and negative reactions are forbidden. Positive reactions such as empathy and constructive help are welcome.
Quite a few mistakes came along this past year. Some small and funny, others big and embarrassing. Consider typing the wrong name in an email (“First of all, my name is Bram, not Bart”), or sending a negative message to the person you are writing about... (“You may find that X is a suitable guy, but I find him to be little accommodating or empathetic”. Response from X “Dear Y. The comment below is really not acceptable. I feel insulted.”). Also shared were mistakes such as problems with the code of an experiment, a test that had been on too long or just too short, forgetting a C variant in an A/B/C test, a huge loser of a test that everyone thought would be a winner, and so on. Every fuck-up was followed by applause. The atmosphere during these sessions is informal and relaxed. There is frequent loud laughter. As a mistake-sharer, that gives you air. That mistake that caused you to sit with your bottom squeezed together in a call with the client had become a funny anecdote during this session that others can learn from.
A few weeks ago, we asked around to colleagues how they experienced Fuck-up Friday and what they learned from it. Below we share the key lessons.
How do you handle mistakes within your company? Are they shared or hushed up? Do you get support or criticism when you make a mistake? We are very curious about your experiences, so please share them! And if you would like to join a Fuck-up Friday for inspiration, please send us a message and we will invite you!
The award presented to the biggest fuck-up of the year is therefore an important milestone of our positive error management culture and symbol of recognition and gratitude to the colleague who shared this mistake with us. No shame, but praise for sharing your mistakes. The recipient was therefore very happy with the award and has given it a nice spot on the wall.
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