[December 17, 2014] Many years ago as a military unit commander, I was involved in a training exercise that went poorly. My company was to participate in an attack on a simulated enemy position. We failed miserably. We failed so badly that the enemy hardly knew we were there. I felt lower than a snake’s belly. When I went to brief my failure to the brigade commander, he said, “Doug, you did good today,” and in that sentence, he was able to lift me up and put me back on my feet. That day I was taught that leaders can allow us to fail and yet not let us be failures.
“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.” – John Wooden, Basketball Coach
People don’t set out to be failures. Personally, I never met a person who told me that they started out to be a failure. Furthermore, I never met a person who has not failed at something. When I talk to senior leaders they are honest and open about the fact that they have also failed many times; both small and large failures. Those failures are what made them what they are today – successful leaders.
Modern societies are fixated on success and high achievement. “Zero tolerance” is a common catchphrase. Yet, leaders who set reasonable expectations about flexibility on failure can go a long way to overcoming problems. What can leaders do to ensure their followers don’t become failures?
- Inspire people to work together for a higher goal.
- Educate about the advantages of being a balanced person: social, mental, physical, religious, and familial strength.
- Build resiliency in people through coaching, teaching, and mentoring.
- Build trust and respect.
- Use available leadership tools to improve the quality of mid-level managers and leaders.
- Establish an environment where there is freedom to make mistakes (see previous post on how to create a positive culture).
Clearly, there needs to be oversight so that a failure does not jeopardize the health or lives of others or threaten the destruction of the organization. Other than that, enabling risk-taking behavior – that is reasonable and justifiable – is a good thing that will bring forth a wellspring of good works.
Leaders can drive home the message that failure is part of life and provides an opportunity to learn and to succeed. Self-confident leaders allow us to fail, then they pick us up.
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[Note] You can also provide them with a list of famous people who failed first and then succeeded later: http://getbusylivingblog.com/famous-people-who-found-success-despite-failures/