Failure is not an option.
True or False?
True, failure is not an option, it's an opportunity.
When the environment feels unstable or unsafe, failing feeds fear.
When fear hijacks, our ability to innovate during challenge is sabotaged.
It's cyclical and subtle.
It's also very common with individual leaders and teams.
As leaders, how we communicate about failure, how we define it, how we respond to those involved, changes how the team engages [or disengages].
The language is foundational. It matters.
Words like experiment, explore, and discover invite curiosity when solving a problem or emerging possible solutions that haven't surfaced yet. We can share an idea without being shutdown or shamed. Remember, every sustainable solution is a sum of many ideas spoken and pieced together like a puzzle.
It's called collective impact and wisdom that helps us avoid unintended consequences.
But when failure is not an option because it's unsafe, to fail means to experience embarrassment or retribution, we will avoid failing at all costs.
Even if the cost means staying silent with an idea that truly could solve the problem. Shamed into silence. And it's costly.
To not give space for failing forward [an environment that is curious and appropriately cautious], we invite being enslaved by perfectionism [and unnecessary exhaustion].
This isn't just a workplace dynamic. It happens in marriages, parenting, faith communities, anywhere we experience challenges and the need to problem solve.
Here are a few coaching questions around failure:
-How does the fear of failing impact how you approach a challenge?
-What shifts in you if solving the problem is redefined as an experiment?
-What might shift if you redefine failure as discovery?
As leaders [at work and home] we need to communicate clearly and often: how we view mistakes, steps to leverage learning from failure, how we talk about it, and how we treat others involved.
When we call each other up to do and be better especially when we make mistakes versus calling each other out, the energy and engagement grows, the solutions and next steps become more clear and kind.
Practicing failing forward and offering
grace in the process,
Sandy
