Facing defeat is inevitable when operating in a context that constantly requires innovation and risk-taking. These are difficult times, but enriching when you can recover and learn the lessons. How to transform failure into gain?
Accept the fact that you cannot control everything
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Differentiate between the failures linked to your mistakes and those that are inherent to uncertainty or lack of luck: you endorsed a risk!
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Identify your instinctive reactions to avoid over-reacting upon failure, e.g. In a time of crisis, do you tend to launch into action or to double-down and become more cautious?
Don’t deal with failure alone
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Share your concerns with your team, your direct line manager or other colleagues. Being less involved, they will help you take a step back.
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Turn failure into a stimulating challenge, e.g. Don’t hesitate to involve your team to help you address the problems you encounter.
Move on
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Face the initial feeling of failure, e.g. Conduct a detailed post mortem to assess what worked and what you would do differently given a “second chance”.
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Be reasonably optimistic. In difficult times this helps motivate the troops and overcome obstacles.
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Don’t be stubborn. Acknowledge defeat to limit the damage and move to safer ground, e.g. Know how to put an end to a stalled project, even if you’ve already invested a lot in it.
Take action
Start an experimentation diary (10 min)
It is difficult to assess what information you will require to analyze the results… It is better to write down everything!
Start an experimentation notebook that will enable you to follow the lessons from the initiatives you have set up. Write:
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Your assumptions, and the data on which they are based
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The anticipated results
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The results achieved
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The lessons to remember
Regularly reread your notes to evaluate the accuracy of your prédictions and eventually stand back to assess your approach during future projects.
A failure is always rich in learning!
You have certainly recently experienced a failure, small or large. Take a moment to think about what you can learn. What can you attribute this failure to? Can you distinguish between what is truly a mistake and what seems more a lack of luck in an uncertain situation?
Confer with colleagues or experts to have their feedback and benefit from different points of view. E.g.: What is their view about it? Do they share your opinion that it is indeed a failure? If it happens again, what could you or should you do differently?
Despite the failure at the end, what went well in this project? What strengths or opportunities can you identify? Under what conditions could you transform this failure into a success?
Project yourself: what would be the ideal crisis recovery in your opinion? (15 min)
Failure is never an easy experience. But it is by showing optimism that you make the most of it.
Become aware of your reaction in the face of failure: Do you tend to become hyperactive, and act in a scattered manner? Do you embark on endless analyses? Or, being petrified, do you remain in the shadow “waiting for things to improve”? Such reactions are natural and counter-productive. Thinking about the long term will enable you to counter them.
Force yourself to imagine an ideal crisis recovery scenario. What would happen? How would you realize that you have overcome the failure? How could you reach such a result? The simple fact of forcing yourself to be optimistic will give you energy to bounce back after a failure.
Identify several possible positive outcomes: you will adapt all the more easily to the uncertainties.
Conseils pratiques
> Recognize failure as a driver of innovation
> Think positively when faced with challenges
Pour aller plus loin
> Show resilience in adversity
© Managéris