5 Pitfalls of an Effective Leader #3 Ignore Failure

#3

Ignore Failure 

(**DISCLAIMER: The “failings” I will be discussing in this post should not be confused with the realities of dysfunctional leadership. In a later post, I will be discussing dysfunctional leadership and the abuses that occur as a result. The path to reformation for the above mentioned is a lot more rigorous and labor intensive.**)

Every leader wants to have success in some way, shape or form. If they are at the helm of an organization, they want their visions to be successful; if they are an athlete, they want to place on the podium; if they are a community leader, then they want to succeed in their localized area of pursuit. This is where things can get tricky.  Without trying to sound flighty, success can look different for different people based on their circumstances. An athlete can place first or second and thus is successful. But a community leader doesn’t necessarily have bench marks that are so clear.  The reasons for a person’s or organization’s success can always be attributed certain catalysts, but can also be the product of circumstance. For example, Martin Luther was not the first person to announce his famous “95 Theses.” There had been others who had publicly held the same views. Yet, the arrival of the printing press made it possible for swaths of people to read and discuss Luther’s revolutionary ideas. He was a success in his own merit, but the success of his ideas was a matter of circumstance. Success exists because of people, character, ethics, abilities and circumstances. So, the question now arises, what happens when fail?

The big ideas that I want to emphasis within this post is that it’s ok to fail, and that failure is an opportunity to learn. It’s fun to talk about success, but not so easy to talk about our mess-ups. Workshops, key notes and interviews tend to revolve around success, and thus are held as the key to the future. Response to failure?  Not so grandiose. An instinctive reaction can be to bury our failure as soon as it happens. This is not only counterproductive, but unhealthy for our peace of mind. I am not suggesting that we air our dirty laundry, but that we take a critical look as to why we failed. Our failings can provide valuable information that can launch us into even greater influence. Here are 3 facts of failure that can help an effective leader process their shortcomings:

1. Failure may not be your fault.

Although this first fact can seem like a scapegoat/blame shifting tactic, it happens more than we’d like to think. There are moments when failure has nothing to do with our ability, ethical stance or work ethic, but has everything to do with the apparatuses that surround us. In this scenario, the politics of minimization or the politics of ignorance are usually the main culprits. I have a friend who built a great program for youth and experienced success for about 4-5 years. As technology evolved, pop culture changed and new youth grew into the program, a tipping point was reached and she saw the need to readdress the program to better suit the changing environment. Because of the mentioned politics within upper-level administration, her efforts to improve the program were kiboshed, and the ensuing 2 years brought heart-breaking failure. She had not changed as an effective leader but circumstances beyond her control caused a paucity in her effectiveness.

2. Failure may be your fault

This post is getting deep. This fact can be difficult for anyone to process or admit, but it holds a silver lining that is crucial for any leaders development. It can give us the opportunity to do some major overhaul in our lives and not only buff our effectiveness, but also bring peace to our hearts. If you’ve had to admit failure then be encouraged that it can be fixed and you are not forever sidelined! It may not mean that your influence is restored immediately, but that you are restored as a person. Take a hard look at your situation, deem what needs to change in your approach, mentality or attitude, make the change, and move forward. The best advice I’ve ever received is to fail fast. So far, it’s worked well for my context.  Usually, if you’re an effective leader, then your failures are smaller than they seem. It tends to be the arrogant who minimize their failings and who continue to hurt others.

3. Failure happens to every effective leader

Part of the effect of having a culture that doesn’t talk about failure is that when we fail, we tend to think that we’re alone in our mistakes. The reality is that we have all failed in some way. Failure is not limited by age, gender or personality. If you’re familiar with the “Colors” personality system, then understand that an Orange personality is no more susceptible to saying the wrong thing, than a Blue is to not speaking the right thing. Failure happens because we are imperfect people living in an imperfect world, trying to make that world a better place.  Because failure has more to do with our actions and mindsets, we can be comforted by the fact that even our role models have failed, and that’s ok.

When it comes to our failures, we should always make the attempt to address our failures in order to continue in the realm of effectiveness. The fallout of not addressing failure is that we’re bound to repeat our mishap, or worse, that our failings become more frequent with more volume. Keep in mind that the best of us fail, it’s ok to fail and it’s an opportunity to make our lives better. And when this happens, our endeavours ALWAYS improve!