What is one lesson we can learn from Abraham Lincoln that preceded his accomplishments in the White House?
Failure is inevitable.
To listen to most successful people, failure is a good thing. It is failures that shape the path to success.
Unfortunately for too many companies avoiding failure is a standard operating procedure. Whether it is fear of losing a deal, spending money without a positive return, or just making a mistake, the fear of failure can permeate a culture.
When avoiding failure takes over, avoiding risk naturally comes along with it. However, if you follow the example of Lincoln and accept the fact that failure will occur, then your ability to expand your options and take some risk grows dramatically.
Recognizing that failure occurs does not mean you accept it and/or are happy about it. The real test is what you do after a failure. When you see something is going bad, stop doing it. If you are losing money on a product or service, stop offering it. If a marketing tactic is not working, stop using it. If a new strategy is producing poor results, stop implementing it.
After stopping consider your options. You can change or modify what you were doing, or drop it completely.
The option you choose usually depends on the autopsy of the failure. Look at the financial impact. The size of the loss will frequently make your choice obvious. If you missed the mark entirely, and the returns are abysmal, then dropping the approach entirely is usually a good thing. If your results indicate some level of success, but not the returns you originally wanted, then modifications might be in order.
When modifications are considered, analyze the strategy and the execution. Strategy can be either appropriate or inappropriate. Execution can be either good or bad. If the strategy is appropriate and the execution is good, continue forward because you are succeeding. If the strategy is inappropriate and the execution is poor, you’ve got a big failure on your hands. Just drop it.
It’s when the mismatches occur that decisions can be tough. If the strategy is inappropriate, but the execution is good, you are gambling at this point. Good execution can mitigate poor strategy, producing some level of success. Or, good execution can accelerate a poor strategy, hastening failure.
On the flip side, if the strategy is appropriate but the execution is poor, trouble can result. Poor execution hampers a good strategy, and management cannot assess the adequacy of a strategy if the ability to implement it is poor.
When faced with a decision to modify or not modify something, begin by looking at your implementation. If there are problems with implementation fix them. Take the time to distinguish implementation problems from strategic problems, and make sure your execution is solid. Without this, you can never know if the strategy is sound. With solid execution, you can clearly assess the strength of the strategy.
The face you put on failure is also important. When something does go wrong, admit your mistakes. If you messed up with a customer, admit the mistake, apologize, and fix it. Respect the intelligence and integrity of the customer, and the marketplace. If you try to hide things, they eventually find out. When they do, their resentment will be stronger because of the deceit, not the original mistake. Ask any expert in crisis management and they will tell you that a cover-up is almost always worse than the original mistake.
Another important aspect of failure is how you deal with employees. Accept that employees will make mistakes (because they will). When a mistake occurs have processes in place that minimize the risk of the same mistake occurring again. Leverage failure to learn and train.
Also leverage failure to emphasize accountability. This is important because if no one is accountable for the failure not occurring again, then inevitably it will occur again.
If you believe in the sandbox wisdom that the best lessons come from mistakes you make, then failure in business should be accepted and leveraged. Failure is inevitable. What you do with it makes all the difference.
Ken Cook is the managing director of Peer to Peer Advisors and Co-Author of How To WHO: Selling Personified, a book and program for building business through relationships.
