Repeated Failure and How to Keep Going

Repeated failure is most peoples’ experience, especially in business.  Some people claim the secret to business success is repeated attempts in the teeth of repeated failure.  Sooner or later you will try something that works!

Complacency

However, this is no reason for complacency.  There may be more you can do to find out where you are going wrong and taking steps to tackle it.

Think about your failures and try to discern if there is a pattern to them.  You may be lacking some skill or knowledge.  There are several ways you can address a problem like this.  You may be able to train or pay someone to provide the skill.

Many self-employed people are excellent at implementing their offer but lack the skills they need to run their business.  Failures may be a good learning environment, so long as you seek help and make sure you learn from them.

Organisational Culture

It is important to understand organisations develop a culture that is difficult to change.  Even though the culture may negative, it becomes hard to change because everyone has invested in it.

So, if you are part of an organisation, consider the possibility you need to make deep changes if it is to be a viable player in the marketplace.

Patterns of Behaviour

Most of us practice patterns of behaviour we find difficult to change.  If you use a common personality test such as Myers-Briggs or the Enneagram, you will find out more about your own strengths and weaknesses.

These tests are not determinative in the sense they are saying you cannot change your behaviour.  What they do is show you how you work effectively.  You can achieve anything you wish; what is important is how you set about it.  A method that works for a different personality type, may not work for you.

Learning from Failure

Of course, it is important to learn from failure.  You can’t avoid failure, it’s built into what you do.  Use it as a learning opportunity.

Above all, ask how you can monetise your failures or the lessons you learn from them.  Your prospects may struggle with similar issues and your experience could be helpful.

This is particularly true for recurring problems, deeply embedded in the behaviour of a person or organisation.  Sometimes it takes time to understand the nature of a problem and how to approach it.

If you can hold a mirror to someone’s behaviour, help them to see a new way forward, then you are acting as a coach or consultant.  This role is crucial to many businesses and may be a possibility for yours.

How have you managed repeated failure?

About the Author

I've been a community development worker since the early 1980s in Tyneside, Teesside and South Yorkshire. I've also worked nationally for the Methodist Church for eight years supporting community projects through the church's grants programme. These days I am developing an online community development practice combining non-directive consultancy, strategic management, participatory methods and development work online and offline. If you're interested contact me for a free consultation.

Leave a Reply 2 comments

Mark Woodhead - January 25, 2017 Reply

Hi,
Here is an example from my experience, some years ago, that I think perhaps illustrates some of the points Chris is making here about learning from mistakes and about organisational culture.
I was working in a community development project in Bradford. The management committee decided that the organisation should buy a camera. The youth worker was given the task of buying a camera. When she returned with the camera people threw up their hands in horror at the amount she had spent, and this turned into an exercise in blaming the youth worker and metaphorically giving the youth worker a good kicking for what she had done.
What was really needed in this situation, instead of scapegoating the youth worker (who had done what she had been asked to do) was an organisation development approach. The real problem was that the organisation did not have in place an agreed policy and practice on finance, stating (for example) what if any limits there were on amounts that members of staff could spend without explicit management authorisation.
When something fails or when something goes wrong it is very tempting to respond by looking for someone to scapegoat, but it is in many cases far more appropriate and more helpful to try to identify and overcome underlying organisational weaknesses.

Chris - January 27, 2017 Reply

Thanks Mark, you’re right it is a cultural issue. The problem here is the worker had not actually done anything wrong! I suppose she could have asked for a spending limit but the organisation should have these rules in place to protect their workers. Scapegoating is a common problem and of course the worker might accept the blame and nurse the failure for years. I’ve found this is a common experience among workers for community and church workers.

Failure is everyone’s experience and we learn to cope with it. Learning becomes difficult when failure (real or imposed) becomes embedded in organisational infighting. We all need to review our repeated failures and learn from them. I don’t think scapegoating helps us to do this.

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