Failing Forward in County Government

CPI-Aspen Institute-NACA

Fail Forward Program

NACA partnered with the Centre for Public Impact (CPI) to create the Failing Forward in Local Government program. The Fail Forward program was a year-long program working with five counties and 15 departments across the country to create cultures of experimentation that promote innovation, risk taking, and learning from failure - prerequisites for continuous improvement and breakthrough innovation in complex environments.

About the Executive Masterclass Series

This executive masterclass series consisted of four, 2-hour virtual sessions where participants learned from and interacted with renowned, subject matter experts on critical leadership topics related to innovation, risk taking, and learning from failure. 


Additional Resources:

Failing forward in local government: how-to guide

This document is a how-to guide that distills the best practices of this program for public servants interested in building a similar culture in their workplaces. Given that the program was a pilot, the document reflects our own fail forward moments and a revised program structure highlighting opportunities for improvement.

Fail Forward Program Overview

Masterclass Series Overview

Fail Forward Report: report on which the Fail forward workshop and program is based

Workshop Recording: from Govapalooza 2021

CPI Manifesto for Better Government