Dealing with failures

Disappointments and failures – both professional and personal – are a part of anyone's life. How you deal with them shapes your life and that of others around you. People handle disappointments in a many ways ranging from inability to control their emotions with behavior such as stomping feet, shouting and throwing tantrums, to complete denial and building a shell around them so that failures can't be discussed. Both these extremes make life difficult – at work and home. This post analyses the consequences of your response to failures on your career. Response to failures can basically be of four kind

1. Aggressive - Lack of Self-Control, Shouting, Threats.
   
2. Sophisticated and shrewd blame game, Successfully putting the responsibility on co-workers, procedures etc
   
3. Remedial/Corrective – Finding where mistakes occurred and redoing things, correctly
   
4. Innovation & Abandon – Trying a completely new approach
   

I don't consider the silly blame game as a response. You come out looking even more idiotic and unconvincing. A particular response may have a very different consequence for you depending on your career level. For example, you can get away with option a if you are senior enough though it is highly likely that you have destroyed your team's morale. The table below captures the impact of these behaviors on your careers. I think most of behave in a certain way in a crisis because it has got to do with we are than what the issue is. Cognizance of our own behavior pattern is the first step in modifying it to something more appropriate.

Behavior/ Career Level		Aggressive			Blame-game	Remedial/Corrective	Innovative
Junior		Highly detrimental. Can even have immediate negative consequences.			Can be successful if well used. The key word here is sparingly, only when desperately needed. You can't afford to have a reputation for blaming.	Highly suited for repetitive jobs such as achieving the monthly sales targets	Mostly not welcome except for creative / non-repetitive jobs. Example – finding a new target segment. People want to know you can effectively follow directions and established norms.
Mid-Senior		Easier to get by than at junior level.			Not recommended. At this level people are looking at you to take responsibility.	Required as a part of managing others doing repetitive jobs	Needed. Welcomed more than at junior level. Be careful that innovation is not turning into escapism.
Executive		Though it appears that you can get by, there are huge disadvantages to behaving like this. It shows you not in control of a situation & can cause people to lose faith in your leadership			Since you have authority over & are responsible for everything, highly undesirable and ineffective	Needed. Shows that you are in control, and you can lead and teach	Required. Unless you have a different innovative idea for executing the company's vision, your subordinates won't have faith in your leadership.

 

We don't become different people in office. Most of us behave similarly in our personal life too, leading to same consequences. This understanding can help you & I become a better person.