Here's how you can turn failure into a leadership skill in the nonprofit sector.

Failure is never a never. Never panic when things do not go "your" way, or your non-profit's way. Be calm, and analyze when the wrong steps/message came about; analyze what needs to be done in response, and know that there is not any set answer. Sometimes ignoring the failure is the best approach, as going bonkers over each mistake, when we all have them can make matters worse. But after analysis, take action to minimize the mistake; take action to undo the mistake; and most serious, it there an personnel issue that needs addressing, address it. And, if mistake was "yours", be the first admit, and make clear any damage will be minimized, and you will lead to eliminate any lingering problem.

Leaders need to stay humble and swallow that sour taste of a disappointment or failure. Acknowledge it's not fun, then move on. Investigate causes, contributions, and what was learned by it. What lesson, information, and relationships were gained by the experience? Consider the cost of never having gained that to sweeten the taste. Consider if some act of contrition or gesture of reconciliation might be necessary.

In my experience, failures are opportunities to learn. Some of the greatest success stories come after multiple failures. I am more interested in how we arrived at the failure. What processes and resources were used or needed? Do we know if the scope is correct? A failure leads to more curiosity for me. It's not the end...unless you allow it to be.

One of my favorite sayings is that everyone makes mistakes, the important part isn't that you've made one, it's what you learn from it and how you do things differently in the future. In an organizational setting, our structures incentivize us not to discuss our failures and focus on success. But without failures to learn from, our successes are limited. Effective leadership comes from recognizing this both for our own actions (and being transparent about our own failures) as well as creating a sharing and learning culture for our teams.

Root cause analysis is my mantra. It worked well for me in hospital management and outreach, as well as other sectors. But I feel we must be able to move beyond the figure-pointing and blame game. That's not so easy when the stakes are high. That's where hard work, communication, and discipline are needed.

Emotion often makes communication cloudy. Are we talking about the issue/challenge or how you are feeling? Emotion Intelligence helps because we are all emotional, irrational beings who don't have all the answers for why we feel a certain way. Identifying that and moving beyond it often moves us closer to the solution and closer together.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, and...." - we all know the rest. So once that root cause analysis is done - change something, follow through on that change, and reassess. Trust the process.

Building resilience within your nonprofit (or for social gain organization)not only fosters long-term success but also cultivates a culture of adaptability and innovation. When your team embraces challenges as opportunities for growth, they develop the confidence to explore creative solutions. Empower them with the tools and training they need to navigate uncertainty, and recognize the value of collective learning. By prioritizing resilience, you strengthen your organization’s capacity to weather difficulties and also inspire a forward-thinking mindset that can lead to transformative impact in your community.

In my experience, a team's resilience is the best indicator of its success. We really only know who we are until we face adversity and unexpected change. It's so awesome to hear a team say, "All of these things went wrong, but we still made it." We adapted, re-prioritized, used/obtained resources, and overcame the obstacle. It did not overcome us.

Check in on individual teammates after the fact that they aren't beating themselves up over their part. Listen for lingering resentments from other teammates. Give them the TLC or tough love they need. Maybe some personal or team development is needed. Celebrate the learning, use some humor to recognize the collective humanity; tough experiences like a failure can strengthen bonds of a team; not only the wins. If your culture is a safe one, tell on yourself - tell your boss what happened. Or tell a peer leader to spread the value of the lesson learned. They may have some input, or at least feel valued to be a part of the resolution.

When I've owned a team failure as leader, this helps the team get past defensiveness more quickly, and into constructive communication about it. Sometimes it inspires others to own their pieces of it, or at least makes my accountability conversations easier with individuals. Assume the best, keep a level head, take it in stride. It's a teachable moment, but no need to make it more than it really is. Learn from it, do better, move on (helps kill a culture of perfectionism and high-stakesness too). When I haven't owned a team failure (or been slow to own it), it perpetuates defensiveness, finger-pointing, negativity, inhibits personal accountability, overall yuckiness.