Here's how you can avoid common mistakes when responding to failure in Strategy.

Accepting mistakes means that the company understands that any failures are an intrinsic part of the growth process. Strategic management needs to understand that mistakes happen, because you never have control over all the business variables... even if the management team has a robust set of data and reports that show otherwise.

1. Avoid Blame Games: Focus on solutions rather than assigning blame. 2. Overcome Analysis Paralysis: Act promptly with the available information. 3. Learn from Failures: Conduct thorough post-mortems for actionable insights. 4. Communicate Transparently: Keep stakeholders informed to maintain trust. 5. Adapt and Pivot: Adjust strategies based on lessons learned to foster resilience.

We need to get something clear. The vast majority of strategies will fail unless they are continuously adapted - they are NOT 'fire and forget' missiles! That's because strategies, which are usually intended to achieve a vision or desired endstate 3 - 5 years hence, are built on assumptions about how the future will unfold and how other actors (businesses, governments etc) will behave. However, as we all know the future has a habit of unfolding in the most unexpected ways and this means that the assumptions underpinning our strategy are likely to prove incorrect. So don't berate yourself if your strategy falls short - accept it, learn from it and focus on continuously adapting your next strategy so it remains viable as circumstances change.

It's definitely hard to accept that something you've worked on has failed. But learning to accept each failure as a learning opportunity is one of the most important skills you will ever have.

Each time you identify a cause of failure, ask yourself why it happened. Were you short of resources? Missed some critical information? Didn't fully engage stakeholders? Needed more experience? Probing the causes of failure is unpleasant. You likely just want to put it behind you as quickly as possible. Don't. Instead own the failure, understand how you could have done things differently and bring that knowledge and experience to your next endeavors.

Learning from your mistakes is smart... insisting on repeating the same mistake is foolish. I don't know if this saying is true in many countries, but here in Brazil it's quite common.

Study history. Mistakes have been made, are being made and will be made. Humans suffer recency effects and fail to see the same patterns and causes. Learn from a field where making mistakes is critical - battle strategies (Understand how Napoleon revolutionised warfare), airline accident prevention through engineering principles etc.

Great point about strategy not being set in stone and that implementing effective strategy is a dynamic process. Many people seem to believe that strategies are 'fire and forget' missiles -they are not which is why so many strategies fail. They require constant adaptation as the environment in which they are seeking to have an effect changes in unexpected ways and the assumptions on which the strategy was built prove to be unfounded. So being able to adapt is key but the only way you'll know that your strategy isn't working is if you have metrics in place that tell you this. Given this, it makes you wonder why so many people seem to think that metrics are an afterthought!

Clear and simple communication. Transparency is essential for getting everyone on the team on the same page. That's why I believe that update reports should be in the areas where everyone circulates within the company: in the work area, in the café area, in the restaurant.

Once you've really considered the lessons from this failure, make a commitment to avoid those mistakes in the future. Sharing this commitment with your team will help solidify it. By announcing the things that you plan to change, you give colleagues a chance to make their own commitments to work quality. Trust me, this tiny step will yield big rewards as you and your team continue to improve.

Live with it The first step in responding to strategic failure is acknowledging it openly and honestly. Denial or downplaying the situation can lead to further issues and missed opportunities for learning. Accepting that the strategy did not achieve the desired outcomes is crucial for moving forward. Use data and feedback to gain a comprehensive understanding of the factors that led to the failure. Document learnings and share them across the organization to prevent similar mistakes in the future. Use the insights gained from the failure to adapt and revise the strategy. Maintain open and transparent communication with all stakeholders throughout the process. Failure is humbling as is success.

One thing I have taken value from is capturing what failure looks like. Often we are so focused on success we are blinded to the obvious. Business cases usually capture what good looks like, but rarely what bad looks like. Having a clear view on failure helps steer activity the right way and encourages the right decision making processes and routines. There’s value in having exit criteria, trigger events that ensure you stop spending and review the strategy.

Sometimes we win, other times we learn. With the above mindset, failure cannot come off as an offence but rather a learning point. I have a short-term experience as a football coach and one of the moments I cherished most was a qualifier match that we played. In the first half, my team was 1 - 0 down and that was my first match on the job, my team was doubtful of my capacity, so I allowed them to play what they wanted for the first half. At halftime, I told them, "You have played your ball, let me play mine now," we won the match with a brilliant scoreline of 3 - 1 with just 10 players to finish, I sacrificed a player 😉 Upon honest evaluation, we found out why we failed and with the right inspiration, we turned the situation around.

First be clear on what you are trying to achieve. Be honest with your own assessment and review. Recognise where you fall short. Don't over simplify, as the causes can be more complex and intertwining that what it appears on the surface. You can't fix a broken tap if you don't know that it's broken. Careful not to fall into confirmation bias. Listen, observe, trust the numbers.