LEADERS LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES

Did you ever hear the old cliché that people who do not learn from their own mistakes are doomed to repeat them?

This proven statement certainly applies to leadership. Ironically, it is more relevant today than ever before.

Why?

Today, leaders function in a VUCA world:
-Volatile,
-Uncertain,
-Complex
-Ambiguous

There is more pressure than ever for leaders to succeed efficiently and get things done quickly. They put that same pressure on their direct reports, who pass it down to the next level.

Unfortunately, as leaders strive harder and harder to get things done, they have less time to pause and learn from what has happened. One of the best ways to learn is to examine our mistakes.

So many leaders do not give them themselves the permission to pause, examine mistakes that have been made, and calculate lessons to be learned from those mistakes.

I was reminded of this important point during the past week when viewing a Harvard Business School webinar about this specific subject. The two presenters, one a former CEO at Sony and the other, a former Treasury Department chief of staff, committed significant mistakes that shaped their careers.

During this webinar, they articulated lessons which they learned, shared with others and integrated into their leadership arsenal.

Those lessons included the following:

-Distinguish Failures from Mistakes:

There is a significant difference here that some leaders do not appreciate. We or our teammates can plan carefully and execute well, but a particular initiative can still fail. And there may be a host of reasons.

Mistakes, as we know well, often come from poor judgment, emotional reactions, or a lack of self-awareness. Understanding the difference between failures and mistakes can help us grow as leaders and mentors.

-Examine What Happened Previously:

Too frequently leaders are so flummoxed by what’s happened that they focus solely on the mistake that has been made. Rather, in order to learn, they can examine three things:
-The mindset they were in,
-The assumptions they made, and
-The emotions they held

The key leadership question to keep asking is “why” until we can surface the deeper beliefs or habits that influence our behavior.

-Obtain an Outsider Perspective::
Those of us who do leadership coaching know, it is difficult for many leaders to look in the mirror and see their own blind spots.

That’s why it can be very helpful to talk through your mistakes with people you trust:
-A work colleague,
-A close friend,
-A significant other
-A close relative
You can invite these people to challenge your assumptions and help you uncover patterns of behavior or thinking that you might not be aware of.

-Don’t Carry Mistakes Around Any Longer than Necessary:

When I was younger, I would beat myself up whenever I made a significant mistake. I would carry it around as if I had a big weight on my back. I would dwell on it for days at a time. That is not helpful or appropriate.

Certainly we do not want to suppress our mistakes or ignore them because if we do, we will never learn from them. That’s why it’s important to process what occurred, take the lesson away, and move forward on our leadership journeys.

When we give ourselves permission to engage in deep reflection about what happened, we reduce the power, the mistakes hold over us. Rather, we learn the lesson, integrate it into our leadership tool kit, and move on to what’s next.

So as you continue on your own leadership path, please recognize the value of mistakes. They can be our best teachers.

However, it is up to us to allow those teachers to come into our personal classroom.

If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!

-Larry