Being able to see an implementation as a success, even if it has a few issues was what I shared in yesterday’s post. In some cases though, there are things that would be judged as a failure by you or by others. When you have a situation that is perceived that way, it may feel as if it will have a permanent impact on you and your career. That doesn’t have to be the case. Things are going to go wrong and one failure does not define your career. The biggest challenge is overcoming your own mindset. It can hurt your confidence and cause self-doubt when a failure occurs, but you can move past this situation. Where do you start? You can begin by looking at what lessons you can learn from the experience and what can you put in place to prevent it in the future?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- What issues caused it to be perceived as a failure?
- Are there things that could have been prevented?
- How did your team perform?
- Was there alignment with the right people?
- Was the communication handled properly?
- Were the risks mitigated appropriately?
- Should there have been a different approach?
- Did the process work or was there a breakdown somewhere?
It is pretty common to start looking for what or who to blame in these situations. That really isn’t going to solve anything. At the end of the day, you are the leader of the team and whether it is a success or not, it still falls on your shoulders. There are always going to be setbacks in any new situation. Managing those setbacks and getting back on track will demonstrate your leadership. This article on 8 Ways Successful People Overcome Setbacks by Patti Johnson identifies some of ways to move past these situations if they happen to you. Being open and learning from them shows that you are focused on continuous improvement and moving forward.
In my experience, failure has taught me the most important lessons. I learned more about my own leadership, how to handle the situations after they occurred and what I would implement to prevent those situations in the future. I don’t know that I would have learned those lessons through any other means. It took some time, but I found a way to see them in a positive way and as a necessary step to move to a better place.
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