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Failure and failing is often a difficult topic to discuss because not one wants to highlight their mistakes or shortcomings. No one likes to admit when they have failed. Through discussion, we will be covering how to learn from failure, how to focus on the solution and not point the finger, how to encourage innovation and creativity by embracing failure, avoiding failure by learning from the failure of others and finally, the consequences of ignoring failure.
"Failing Forward", by John Maxwell for $18.21 @ Amazon @ https://amzn.to/36CW9Cb
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Show Notes
And we are back with another episode of Level Up. Last week we discussed "Defining Success". We covered where we get our definition of success and how we personally define success? We also covered what we can do to be successful?
Today we are going to discuss failing forward. This is a big topic and not easy to cover. No one likes to admit when they have failed. Through discussion, we will be covering how to learn from failure, how to focus on the solution and not point the finger, how to encourage innovation and creativity by embracing failure, avoiding failure by learning from the failure of others and finally, the consequences of ignoring failure.
Quote: "Fear of failure is often the toughest hurdle to jump in leadership" -John Maxwell from the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast.
Q: What are your thoughts?
There are many ways to learn from failure. In the military we used the After Action Review, or the AAR. It's a methodical process that allows participants of an exercise or a mission to give three ups and three downs and then a list of recommendations to ensure next quarter's exercise or the next mission goes better. In business, there's the post-mortem, or some other type of formal review process that allows the business to assess what went well, what didn't go so well, and what we need to change in the future in order to improve.
Seems like a great way to learn from our failures right? Well, not when we get stuck in the blame game. Our default behavior is to assign an effect to a cause. Psychologically, we can't help but point the finger. Whether it's to explain what or why something happened, to attack someone, to defend ourselves from others, whether they are pointing the finger at us, or whether we are having difficulty assuming responsibility for our mistake or failure. It is always easier to assign blame for a failure. Way easier than actually diving into the problem and resolving the root cause of the failure. It is almost instinctual to assign blame to failure.
Q: Have you ever blames someone else for a failure that you experienced? What has been one your biggest personal failures in business or in your personal life? Did you blame someone for that failure? Have you ever been blamed for a major failure? Was it your fault, how did you react?
Failure is the "School of Hard Knocks". Who would we be without the life lessons taught through our failure. It's how we learned to walk, to ride bikes, to dance, to build and to succeed. Failing allows us to build upon our character and feed our values of honesty, integrity and honor. Failure is our greatest and oldest teacher.
Failure gives birth to courage and shows us the power of perseverance. It encourages creativity and risk taking and highlights an individuals enthusiasm and motivation. Failure encourages exploration and instills resilience. Accept failure and look at failure as a step in the staircase to success. Welcome failure, as it is often necessary to learn what is required to be successful
Q: What is the toughest lesson you have learned through failing? What has failure taught you? Have you always seen failure from the perspective of learning and growth? How do learn from your failures in business? How do you teach your junior leaders and subordinates not to fear failure?
Quote: "The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate" -IBM's Thomas Watson Sr.
Not all failures are created equal. The Harvard Business Review provides a spectrum with "lethal failures" on the far left being those that are based on violating a prescribed process, law or rule. This is the extreme side of failure and is not just blameworthy, but will result in serious repercussions such as fines and potential jailtime. This is followed closely with inattention to details and overestimating your own ability to do a job. On the far right, and opposite lethal failure you have hypothesis testing and exploratory testing, which simply put is trail and error and typically involve little to no risk.
The middle of the spectrum includes task challenge, process complexity and uncertainty. These are areas where you can encourage risk taking with the right level of engagement and management.
The goal when encouraging failure is to establish an understanding of a lethal failure versus an excusable failure and then encouraging those excusable failures. Failures that have limited impact on the business or your personal life.
Q: Have you ever experienced or known someone who has experienced a lethal failure? How have you encouraged your employees, your team mates or business partners to take risks and exposure of excusable failure? How do you develop this in your team?
Often times, it is possible to learn from the mistakes and failings of others, therefore avoiding making the same or similar mistake ourselves. We can learn from our parents, our friends, business partners, entrepreneurs and people we look up too. If someone has done something similar to what you are planning, it would be foolish not to use their blue print and avoid repeating their errors.
Q: What lessons have you learn from others that prevented you from making the same mistake? How do you use other people's lessons to improve your chances of success?
When we ignore our failures, we find ourselves doomed to repeat our mistakes. Repeating a mistake is a pattern that turns into habit and creates a failure loop.
Q: Have you ever found yourself in a failure loop? How did you escape the loop? What forced you to change? What did you learn from the process?
Although there are a number of lessons to be learned from failure, there are always lessons learned in succeeding and in achieving success as well. I actually prefer those types of lessons. We should all be trying to learn from the mistakes of others and using effective planning and preparation to avoid failure and the tough lessons that come through failing.
If you're ready to level up and maximize learning and growth through failure, then I encourage you to purchase the book, "Failing Forward" by Dr. John Maxwell. For about $14.00 you can learn how turn mistakes and failures in advantages and learning opportunities.
Additionally, if you are looking for resources for your operations or business to improve on how your organization is conducting after action reviews and post mortems, then I have provided a link to a resource guide from Vanderbilt University that provides a simple but effective method for rapid post-project or post operations assessment so that you can begin learning from your mistakes and failures.
Try to learn your lessons from your success.
As we wrap it up, the bottom line is that success can be measured in more than one or two ways. Money, fame and titles aren't true measurement of success unless they are goals that you've established and achieved. True success comes from identifying a goal or objective, creating a plan to achieve that goal, revising the plan when you encounter temporary defeat, and eventually achieving your goal by giving 100% towards achieving that goal.
Failing Forward by John Maxwell
https://amzn.to/36CW9Cb
After Action Review:
Creators & Guests
What is The Undeniable Level Up ?
A personal and professional podcast focused on the development of leaders, entrepreneurs and business.
Hello again and welcome to the next episode of Level Up, the podcast that focuses on leadership, self improvement and continued growth throughout our everyday lives. I'm Jose, your host and I am joined by my co-host, and the CEO of All-American Lumping LLC, one of the fastest growing national 3PL Logistics and Freight Handling companies in the U.S., Crystal Garcia.
Last week we discussed "Defining Success"…how we define success for ourselves. What that looks like for us as individuals and we also touched on failure and what that looks like as well. You can't have one without the other, right?
Today we are going show you how you can be a "Goal Digger". Not a Gold Digger. But a GOAL DIGGER
So first thing's first, what the hell is a GOAL Digger?
Read Excerpt: Neffi, a blogger posted in the Buzz Blog that…
A “GOAL digger” …is someone who is ambitious and clear of the things they want. Goal diggers have dreams, goals and aspirations for independence, success, and their version of happiness. They “dig in” and do the work to become the person they strive to be.
Being a “GOAL digger” is all mindset. It’s the basic of setting goals for your life and doing what it takes to achieve them. Whether they are goals set in your education, your career, your personal life, or some other area. You are setting goals for whatever it is you desire that will define success to you. Tackling obstacles and burdens that may get in your way, being determined, persevering, sometimes a little suffering with blood, sweat, and tears.
A GOAL digger never stops working towards their goals.
What have you done to get better today?
Q: What do you think about Neffi's definition of a Goal Digger?
Goals provide you with direction, purpose and motivation. They are the destination in the your mental GPS that allows to see where you want to go in life or business. Without goals, you're just aimlessly moving through life, business is just one sale after another without any true purpose. This can be frustrating if you are trying to achieve something specific.
This typically ends in frustration, disappointment and in severe cases, depression.
Q: How did you overcome that obstacle and how were you able to double your earning potential in just a few months?
Q: Have you ever tried to achieve something without having a specific goal in mind? What happened and how did that play out?
One of the three critical criteria for being a Goal Digger, is that a Goal Digger sets VERY, VERY SPECIFIC goals. The more specific the better. A vague or wishy-washy goal is nothing more than a desire. A lot of people have heard about SMART goals, SMART being:
S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Attainable, R-Relevant, T-Timebound
Another way to look at it is through the PURE format which is:
P-Positive, U-Under your control, R-Right sized, E-Ecological
Q: How do you set goals to achieve what you want to achieve in your personal life? Professionally? In business?
Example of weak goals (Desire)
I wanna new car
I wanna bigger house
I want a better job
I want to lose weight
Example of strong goals
I want a 6-Series Covnertibel BMW M3
I want a 4 BR home in Manteca with a pool and it must be close to a good school
I want a position as an Operations Manager for Walmart making $95K a year with good bennies
I want to lose 30 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle, dropping my waistline from a 42 to 32
When goals are not quantifiable how can you assign value?
I want to be happy as I was when I was in college
Q: Have you ever set a goal without a timeline? Did you achieve that goal? Have you ever over achieved a goal that you set that was too low? What did you learn from the process?
Example of poor timelines
One of these days
Eventually
Next year
Putting your goals in writing is a great way to commit to yourself what you intend to accomplish. People who write down their goals are almost 42% more likely to achieve their goals.
Q: Do you commit your goals to writing? What does that look like? How often are they revisited? Do you only do this for business or also personally? How has this impacted your success?
Journaling
Balanced Scorecard
Strategic Objectives
Q: Have you failed to achieve a goal you set? Why did you fail and what did you learn from that failure?
Read Quote: Darren Hardy says, "If you are not making the progress that you would like to make and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals are not clearly defined"
Q: Either of you set goals got 2021 yet? What will that look like?
As we bring the infamous 2020 year to a close in just a matter of weeks, many of you will begin setting the same old new years resolutions you always set. You know, Lose weight, save money, travel more, etc. We've all done it.
This year, I challenge you to do a few things differently. Take out your pen and paper or write this down in a note app:
Set a simple theme for the year. This year our theme is Health and Wealth. Last year it was "Show up and Be Present" in honor of one of Crystal's very close friend that passed. (Crystal can add)
Your theme can be what ever 1 or 2 things are most important for you that you plan on focusing on. Use this theme to align your decisions throughout the year. Regularly discuss your theme with you power circle and hold each other accountable when you are not acting in alignment of that theme.
Set SMART and specific goals that align with your WHY and your values. For example, my WHY is family. My value is also family, one of my goals for 2021 is going to be to visit my son in Texas in February of this year. I am also going to take go on a family vacation to Costa Rica in July of this year, if COVID allows.
Write your theme and your goals for this year down. If you are able too, I recommend purchasing the "Living Your Best Year Ever" journal, designed by Darren hardy. You can purchase it on Amazon for about $35, the link is provided below. It will definitely help you fine tune your goal setting process and allow you to become a better GOAL DIGGER. But just writing it down on paper in notebook or on a note app like OneNote, or even sending yourself an email with your goals outlined, you will have a greater chance of accomplishing that goal.
This year, set the right goals and make sure the goals are right for you.