How the Best Leaders Handle Failure
Failure is a natural part of life, and there is not much anyone can do about it. How every one of us handles failure, is something else entirely. Being a leader automatically implies that much of the responsibility will fall on a leader’s shoulders. What’s more, it is that same leader’s duty to know what to do in case something like that ever happens.
The worst possible reaction to failure is to play the blame game. It is a fairly common practice (mistake) in the business world for an individual or department to be made a scapegoat for an entire project’s failure when, in fact, that is rarely the case. Progress, and by extension, success, comes with a dose of risk, regardless of how much preparation was put in a project. Yet, so many managers disregard this irrefutable fact and go straight to blaming others for lack of foresight.
What great leaders do, however, is take a different approach to the situation and try to figure out what factors were at play, causing that project to not succeed in the first place. Sometimes it was, indeed, a lack of careful planning or implementation, but often failure can be attributed to external forces beyond anyone’s control or a myriad of tiny factors that went below or above everyone’s radar. Being able to make the distinction between good and bad failures should be part of any manager’s skill set, as it will facilitate the right way going forward.
Here’s what the best leaders do when handling failure:
They don’t immediately seek to blame
Leadership that doesn’t default to the, “who’s fault is it,” attitude is a leader who takes responsibility, is open to understanding all the causes that lead to a failure, and humble enough to learn from his or her mistakes. When those in leadership positions immediately point fingers, it may serve the temporary purpose of holding someone accountable, but it doesn’t inspire the kind of trust or loyalty that helps people perform their best.
They ask questions
Leaders who are face-to-face with a failure, ask a lot of thoughtful questions. Why? Because they want to understand how something could have gone wrong. What role did they play in the failure and what circumstances weren’t anticipated that made failure possible in the first place? Only through asking questions can a great leader get to the right answers.
They learn
And with the right questions that lead to answers, learning takes place. It’s not a question of whether failure will happen; it’s a question of when it will happen. Great leaders know this, even if they try their best to help themselves and their teams avoid failure. Therefore, great leaders learn from their failures, and it only helps to make them better and more prepared in the future.
They help others learn from their failures
Finally, the best leaders help others learn from failures, too. With all experiences comes wisdom, and for some reason, failure is one of life’s greatest teachers. Therefore, the best leaders help their team understand what is to be learned from failure and, in effect, teaches them to avoid making the same or similar mistakes in their future.
Conclusion
Failure is inevitable, but with a proper mindset, it can be turned into a great asset from where to grow, both as a cohesive team as well as a great pivot, part of that team.