In the last of the series on beliefs that you can borrow to make leading your team easier and more fun, I want to talk about mistakes or failure.
Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself
“Sonia, of course mistakes happen and of course we have to go with it!”
But I want to take this a step further and ask you to embrace the belief that it’s beneficial to embrace mistakes and, in many ways, encourage them too!
Right now, across the world we are still in the midst of the Covid -19 pandemic. Leaders across the world, be that in government, schools, business or any other secotr and organisation are having to make decisions on a daily basis to deal with the fallout from the pandemic. And they are getting it wrong. And that’s ok. What’s not ok is the way many of them communicate the fact that they’ve got it wrong or the way they try to hide it AND how many of us react to them getting it wrong.
Listen, the pandemic is just one example of a situation which is new for many of us and where we have to make decisions without really knowing what the outcomes will be, in order to move forward and learn.
When we find ourselves in any situation that’s new, we need to
- Look for examples where something similar has happened before and learn from their experience (something that many countries have been slow to do with this pandemic)
- Communicate our goals and ambition
- Be clear that there are things that we don’t know
- Be clear that mistakes will happen, things will fail AND we will learn, adapt and move forward
In our organisations, this is exactly the same. Encourage your people to take measured risks, encourage them to review the results of any experiment at each stage, encourage them to communicate fully and learn from each mistake and each failure.
And role model this behaviour!
Be the first to own up to a mistake or a failed experiment and talk about the learning from it and how it will be useful going forward. Celebrate not only successes but also failures and the learning. Celebrate the fact that people are willing to take risks in order to achieve more and better.
How I frame the belief is like this:
“In my world there are no failures, only successes and experiments”
Feel free to borrow this one and share it with those around you – especially with your children if you have them!
Next month we’ll be looking at the importance of having a highly motivated and loyal team in order to guarantee performance and fun.
Who are you going to share the belief with that there are no failures, only successes and experiments? Comment below, I promise to read every comment. Or email me at sonia@soniagavira.com.
Speak soon
