Congratulations. You clicked on the link. I asked the question, “do you feel like you are failing?” For a split second, you asked yourself that question. If you made it this far, you probably answered that question with “yes,” “maybe,” or “sometimes.” Being honest with yourself is an important first step.

Leadership and failure

Leaders like to succeed. We like to achieve. We like to win. That gives us energy. That gets us out of bed in the morning. Failure is frustrating and deflating. Failure erodes our confidence and steals our joy. Yet, anyone that’s been leading for long enough has had their fair share of both success and failure.

Failure is learning

I often consider the necessity of failure in the process of innovation. The classic example is Thomas Edison failing to create an effective lightbulb filament 1,000 times before getting it right. As leaders, we often talk about failure in that context. “The road to success is paved with many failures.” We may have even used these words to give our discouraged team members a pep talk.

Failure and blame

If we fail as a team, we take blame out of the equation. We perform a root cause analysis on the problem, then implement corrective actions to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This creates a physiologically safe culture where team members feel confident pointing out issues and fixing them together without fear of recourse.

As a leader, I’m quite happy to put failure in the box of innovation or problem solving. I can manage it well there. In fact, I can even feel good about failure because it’s ultimately going to help me get to where I’m going. It’s like working out in a gym. Yes, my muscles hurt, but I’m getting stronger in the process.

The other kind of failure

The best leaders are some of the most accountable people on the planet. If something isn’t going well, it’s our fault. The results reflect on us. We own it.

What do you do when you are failing, but that failure isn’t making you innovative? What do you do when you are failing, but the root cause analysis doesn’t lead to continuous improvement?

Headwinds

This past summer, I went canoeing with my son in the boundary waters. We paddled across a large open lake into a stiff headwind. I was in the back, and my son, who is considerably smaller than me, was in the front.

It took all of my strength to keep the canoe perpendicular to the wind and the waves. On several occasions, the wind whipped us around due to our weight differential. I stuck close to the shoreline. I paddled as hard as I could. My son paddled as hard as he could and did his best to listen to my every instruction. Yet, as I looked at our position relative to the shoreline, we were moving backwards.

Sometimes, leadership feels exactly like this.

I am an experienced paddler. I knew exactly what to do in these conditions to keep us safe and moving forward. All of my strength and knowledge weren’t enough. My team wasn’t enough. The conditions were brutal, and I simply had to endure it. In the end, I was willing to bet that I could outlast the wind and I was right. With all of the setbacks, it felt like we paddled five times the distance we actually covered. We eventually arrived at our destination late, safe, and exhausted.

At work, this is the type of failure that frustrates me the most. I examine our methods. I check in with the team. I focus everything we’ve got, yet we’re still going backwards.

As a leader, I still need to bring the team to the destination. It costs more than we planned. It’s taking longer than we planned. We cannot afford any more setbacks, but the wind doesn’t care. I’m getting tired, but the wind doesn’t care.

The wind

This season has been windy. I think wind is a fair analogy to what we face as leaders, because it is dispassionate and indiscriminate, yet formidable. There is no point at getting angry at the wind. Nothing good will come from yelling at your teammates in the canoe. Amidst the many times you get spun around, can you get your canoe pointed back in the right direction again? Can you endure the wind and get to your destination even if it takes five times longer than it should?

What to do when you are failing

Failure isn’t fun. Leaders must be accountable and introspective. Pivot if you must. Endure. While failure is painful, it is temporary. It never lasts. Success is always around the corner.

My story about canoeing in the boundary waters has a happy ending. Once we crossed the large lake through the wind, we portaged to a smaller lake that had very little wind. We caught more walleye than we had in many years.

As a leader, you face all kinds of challenges. You need to be smart. You need to be full of heart. Sometimes, you need to stick your face into the wind, bear the consequences, and endure. Your next big success is coming soon. Hang in there.

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