The Blame Game

Most organizations assume mistakes happen because of carelessness or incompetence. But The Blame Game helps teams see the bigger picture, many failures are actually caused by broken systems, unclear processes, or a lack of experimentation. Amy Edmondson’s failure spectrum identifies nine levels of failure, from blameworthy to praiseworthy. Understanding where a mistake falls on this spectrum helps teams react appropriately instead of just blaming someone. The Blame Game is a card-based activity where participants look at real or hypothetical mistakes and place them on a spectrum of reasons for failure.