It is somewhat ironic that the last blog in this series relates entirely to accepting that failure and taking risks are part of change leaders’ DNA. Case in point, publishing a blog series that explores the art of leading change in a dynamically changing world has been a journey of stumbling, learning, facing my own personal fears and, most importantly, getting back up and carrying on.
Living by the ocean means that I get to watch a lot of surfers and witness the dilemma that the less experienced ones face. If they sit and think for too long about a wave, they miss their chance to ride it or worse, they face the prospect of being painfully dumped because they were too slow to make the decision or maybe not fit enough to hang ten. Yet if they do decide to take a wave, they also risk missing the best wave of the day, which may still be yet to come. So should they sit it out and wait for the perfect one to come along?
More experienced surfers make it look simple. They seem to make the right decisions at the right time, and if they get it wrong they just hop back on their board and get back out there and try again. But being a great surfer doesn’t come easily. It requires making decisions, taking risks, getting plenty of practice and experiencing all of the pain and joy that undoubtedly comes with it. After all, how can you recognise a perfect wave if you’ve not tried others before or after it?
Great leaders of change recognise that trying (building fitness and experience) is an essential part of the process of navigating the organisation towards its goals, and that effort is something that needs to be nurtured, not reprimanded. They also know the context well enough to understand when to take risks and when not to (as explored in my last blog). It’s why they keep questioning, practicing, making and learning from mistakes and, most importantly, keep moving forward—regardless of what is thrown at them.
All of this implies that at some point, acceptance of failure is inevitable. But it’s an uncomfortable thought that has implications to both our own sense of self-worth, as well as that of the organisation and others within it. Think about that for a minute. Do you learn from past failures or is failure not an option for you? Are you willing to give something a go or do you need 100% certainty before making a decision? Do you reflect openly on mistakes or failures with your people or do you cover your tracks?
Accepting failure is much easier said than done. Here are some practical tips to help hone your skill and confidence in this area:
Give something new a go!
A wise lady recently prompted me to Google ‘face the fear and get on with it.’ I will be forever grateful for being led to that learning. Try it for yourself.
Even as I sit and write this, I’m still feeling uncomfortable, fidgety, frustrated and awkward with my words, which is ironic because I’m never short of something to say in person! But writing is new for me. How did I expect it to feel? I knew I wouldn’t instantly ‘enjoy’ it, otherwise I’d have published a thousand books by now. But what I did know was that I needed to give it a go; I just had to start.
What has helped me enormously in this process has been working with and learning from someone who has done this before. Finding a mentor that you respect for their experience and trust to have your best interests at heart, gives you the confidence to try new approaches.
Mistakes matter
The pathway to mastery lies in practice, practice, practice. For example, going from reading about something in a text book to performing at a ‘text book’ standard, is a very difficult and long road to travel—just ask any athlete, business leader, parent or student. However, it’s the mistakes made along the way that are the gold; they are what enable us to grow and develop new strategies that, in turn, build our resilience and experience.
Admitting to your mistakes is a fundamental starting point to embracing failure. Cover-ups at any level will not move you towards your organisational goal. Equally, holding onto the belief that you or your organisation never make mistakes or fail at anything is also an unhealthy and risky proposition. Share and learn from mistakes, listen to the stories of other people who have tried. What strategies did they use? What worked and in what situation?
Focus on the recovery
It is important to create an environment of safety for discussions and enquiries regarding failure. Not doing so can result in interrogations and witch-hunts, which are fuel for igniting fear and blame cultures.
When failure does occur, use the 80:20 rule to guide you. For example, for every question you ask about the failure, ask four questions about how you are going to recover. For every 60-minute meeting, spend 15 minutes discussing what went wrong and the remaining 45 minutes discussing ideas and ways to recover and look to the future. This approach will also support you in building agility (something we explored in the last blog).
Learn to laugh at yourself
This may seem like a strange tip to put in a business blog about leading change, but fear of looking stupid or being seen as a failure is a big issue within many organisational cultures. We all take ourselves far too seriously sometimes and somewhere along the way we’ve lost the ability to simply have fun.
Some of the poorest people who live in the most deprived communities in the world, are amongst the happiest people I have ever had the privilege to work with. It has always seemed that wherever resources are lacking, there is never a shortage of humour.
‘Observational humour’ is a powerful tool in a change leader’s toolkit. We spend millions on teaching others how to do something, whereas one good example of how not to do something, presented in a respectful (albeit, likely uncomfortable) way is often way more powerful. If you need an example, try watching this clip: ‘The Appraisal’ – Ricky Gervais. If you’ve ever managed people in your career or sat on the other side of a performance appraisal, I defy you not see a tiny piece of yourself in it and giggle.
There is a little bit of ridiculousness in every business situation, try and look at each one for what it is: step back, look at it all and don’t take it personally, after all you are only one part of the whole.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog series as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you. I also hope the fantastic imagery, designed specifically to accompany each post, has made you smile.
If you have feedback on this blog or if there’s a topic you’d like to hear more about, I always welcome ideas for future conversations! If you are leading change in your organisation, wherever it may be, please get in touch to discuss how I can help you on your unique journey.
