Fear of Failure

Nobody likes to fail.

When we fail, we try to turn it into a positive:

• Some say they learn from their failures.
• Some celebrate failure as a necessary evil.
• Some model failure as a rite of passage.

On one hand, to fail is to admit defeat.

On the other hand, we all fail every day. It’s part of being human.

In the course of a single day, here are examples of how I failed:

• Missing a step walking down the stairs
• Air balling my toss into the recycling bin 
• Running out of milk for my cereal
• Forgetting my transit pass after chasing down the bus and getting on
• Realizing I left my umbrella at home as it starts to rain
• Adding way too much salt to my beef and shrimp dish 
• Forgetting to pick up my wife from the bus stop right after I told her I would – ouch!

So, if to fail is a normal part of being human, then what really matters when we do fail?

Visibility 

• How open and honest are we when we fail?
• How transparent are we?
• Do we shout it from the rooftops or do we hope nobody notices?

Impact 

• What’s the blast radius of the failure?
• Does it affect one or many?
• Does it hurt me?
• Is it recoverable or terminal?

The longer we hide our failures, the greater the impact will be.

For some, it’s a risk worth taking in order to preserve the illusion of success.

Like the proverbial “Watermelon status” – green on the outside, red on the inside.

Organizations that

• Expect flawless execution
• Do not tolerate or accept failure
• Punish “Red status” programs, projects, or initiatives with layers of red tape and bureaucracy

will always reap what they sow…

• Leaders that demand, fabricate and report nothing but GREEN status as long as possible until they run out of runway to deal with the reality of RED when it can’t be hidden any longer.
• Employees and staff afraid to ask for help for fear of reprisals.

For those of us who are willing to accept failure, there’s only so much we can do with leaders who are less willing:

1. Give them real data.
2. Let them decide what to do with it.
3. Be there to support them when they fail.