How can you coach mentees to overcome fear of failure in innovation?

2 2. Encourage a growth mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that abilities and skills can be developed through effort, feedback, and learning. A growth mindset fosters resilience, curiosity, and optimism in the face of challenges and setbacks. As a mentor, you can encourage a growth mindset in your mentee by praising their effort, progress, and strategies, rather than their outcomes, talent, or intelligence. You can also help them reframe failure as an opportunity to learn, improve, and try again.

3 3. Model and share your own failures

Another way to overcome fear of failure is to model and share your own failures as a mentor. By sharing your own stories of failure, you can show your mentee that failure is normal, inevitable, and valuable in the innovation process. You can also demonstrate how you learned from your failures, how you overcame your emotions, and how you bounced back. By doing so, you can build trust, empathy, and rapport with your mentee, and inspire them to be more courageous and confident.

4 4. Provide constructive and supportive feedback

Feedback is essential for innovation, as it helps the mentee test their assumptions, validate their ideas, and refine their solutions. However, feedback can also trigger fear of failure, if it is perceived as harsh, negative, or personal. As a mentor, you can provide constructive and supportive feedback that helps the mentee grow and improve, rather than deflate and discourage them. You can do this by using the sandwich method, which consists of starting and ending with positive feedback, and sandwiching the negative feedback in between. You can also use open-ended questions, specific examples, and suggestions for improvement.

5 5. Celebrate small wins and milestones

One of the best ways to overcome fear of failure is to celebrate small wins and milestones along the way. Small wins are the incremental achievements that indicate progress and success in the innovation project. Milestones are the major checkpoints that mark the completion of a phase or a deliverable. By celebrating small wins and milestones, you can help the mentee recognize their efforts, achievements, and learnings. You can also boost their motivation, morale, and momentum.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?