Why Failure Might Be the Most Underrated Leadership Tool You Have
What!? You failed?
Great, that’s your first learning round.
Now bear with me, but I feel really passionately about this: failure and making mistakes.
Something I used to say in onboarding:
“I’m expecting you to make mistakes. The only way to not make a mistake is to not come to work.”
Mistakes made with good intentions?
– They show me you're trying. That you care.
(Once we've ruled out it isn't a case of being sloppy or not bothered, that's for a different subject!)
Let’s Talk About Leadership
Now — I want to speak directly to people in leadership roles:
Team Leads. Managers. Senior Managers. C-suite.
How safe is it for your team to fail?
Because in my coaching, I meet brilliant professionals who carry shame when they fall short:
“I messed up.”
“I’m not good enough.”
“I’ll just stay in my lane.”
If you want creativity…
If you want bold thinking…
If you want your team to challenge the status quo…
You must create a culture where it’s safe to fail.
If You Don't - Here’s What You’ll Get
The basics
The tick-box tasks
The head-down, play-it-safe version of them
They'll do their job, business as usual. Satisfactory.
That's it.
May be fine for some, but don’t we all want those thriving teams that excel!?
Retros Aren’t Enough (If They Point Fingers)
And now I hear you:
“We’ve got a retro, post-mortem, or after-action review in place. We deal with mistakes.”
But…
If those procedures are used to point fingers - not to debrief and normalise - your people won’t bring their best. Just their safest.
When something falls through the cracks, don’t just look at your team.
Look at yourself:
What process did management (YOU!) put in place?
What process didn’t you put in place?
Were expectations clear?
Was there space to say, “This isn’t working”?
If your team is always thinking,
“I just don’t want to mess up,”
you won’t get innovation.
You’ll get hesitation.
Progress > Perfection
I’ve seen projects that could’ve gone better - and guess what?
Great! Now we know better.
A real mistake? Great.
It’s not happening again. That’s the point.
🥊We don’t fail for punishment. We fail for progress.🥊
Want to Create a Stronger Team Culture?
Want to create a culture where your team feels safe enough to bring their boldest, smartest ideas?
Let’s talk about how coaching can help. Book a free discovery call here.
