Friday, January 26, 2018

The Master Teacher, Failure Is: “We Are What They Grow Beyond”



In the latest Star Wars movie – The Last Jedi – Luke Skywalker, burdened with failure and reluctant to mentor the ambitious Rey, tells Yoda (his mentor): “I can’t be what she needs me to be.” And Yoda responds:

“Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.”

Most leaders are quite happy to share what they’ve learned over the years – the knowledge they’ve gained, the skills they’ve developed, the successes they’ve achieved. And yet, when it comes to sharing failures, which are often the catalyst for knowledge gained, skills developed, and successes ultimately achieved, they’re not quite so forthcoming.

As Yoda might say, “omission the error is.”

Those you lead, coach, mentor can learn a great deal when you open up about past failures and walk them through how you responded, how you recovered, and what you learned.  And you did learn. If not, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Why not share that experience? Yes, it requires you to be vulnerable. Yes, you have to admit that you’re not perfect. And by so doing you give your employee/mentee the greatest lesson of all – it’s OK to fail. Creating an environment where employees can be comfortable with failure increases risk taking and the free flow of ideas, ultimately leading to innovation, which is key to organizations remaining relevant and competitive.

As you share your failures, don’t neglect to include how the failure impacted you emotionally. Often as leaders we feel that we need to show up as a tower of strength even while allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. Admitting the emotions you felt in failure – anger, remorse, grief, fear, whatever they were – shows that you’re human, and gives your employee/mentee permission to embrace rather than suppress their emotions in the face of failure.

According to an article in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, “Emotions Know Best: The Advantage of Emotional vs. Cognitive Responses to Failure,” focusing on our emotional response to failure actually helps prevent us from making the same mistake again. The authors found that focusing more on justifying the failure does not “have the commonly believed reflective, self-improving qualities.” A focus on emotions, on the other hand, “can allow for learning and, therefore, increased effort.”

Allowing ourselves to learn from our failures and to share that experience with those we lead, will help us and others have the courage and strength to lead, to fail, to learn, to grow beyond, and to thrive beyond.

As we wrap up this first month of 2018, I encourage you to make this a year of personal reflection, learning and grace. 2018 is a year of GROWTH, so be ready to make the bold request and be turned down, for there is much to learn in that process.  Be ready to learn about yourself from the inside out – be ready to take the step you are hesitant to take because what is the worse that will happen?  You will learn, and you will grow, and through this growth and learning, you will be one step closer to your ideal  result.  Be present with yourself and your loved ones. Be joyous because you are blessed with the “now.” Be humble because you are not perfect. Continue to grow, to learn and to evolve into your most perfectly imperfect self. Don’t be afraid of the master teacher.

Lead on,
Rebecca


.

No comments:

Post a Comment