Failure Can Be Good: Lessons to Overcome Failure and Succeed as an Entrepreneur

Key Takeaways:

• There will always be failures in business – some large, some small
• What matters is the culture you create around failure
• The blame game doesn’t work – it’s not the who, it’s the why
• Digging deep into the causes of failures, analyzing them, and then experimenting with solutions is the only way forward
• To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must overcome failure the right way – by seeing past the failure to absorb its wisdom and ensuring your employees do the same.

It’s not enough to superficially deal with failures – you need a sophisticated, multi-level approach

Failures, large and small, inevitably happen in business. The first impulse of many leaders is to place blame – the so-called “blame game.” Fingers are pointed, blame assigned, the issue is discussed ad nauseum, and everyone walks away from the table feeling like they’ve accomplished something. It’s business as usual after that, there’s no real change, and failures are seen in a simplistic, superficial way. But truly learning from failure is anything but simple. 

To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must learn to overcome failure through a fundamental understanding of its causes and context. Only then will you develop an effective leadership strategy to learn from failure. It takes an objective approach that welcomes reporting failures, analyzing them, and then looking at alternatives to deal with them. Playing the blame game means failures are not reported, which means lost opportunities to learn valuable lessons. The successful entrepreneur learns from mistakes to develop the resiliency and adaptability that means business success.

At The Profit Recipe, we understand the entrepreneurial struggles, and we have the expertise to help you become an authentic leader, nurture your people to build a healthy team, and make your business work for you. Our proven system will empower you to align your business and life to your purpose so you can design the life you want.

Cause and context are everything

Running a business is complex, and without a sophisticated understanding of the cause of failures as well as the context, you’ll be hard-pressed to devise a strategy to overcome failure that will effectively lead those in your organization to learn from failure. One important lesson is that not all failure is bad, and leaders must build their tolerance for it and act fearlessly. 

There are many reasons people and organizational processes fail. Some are worthy of blame, but most are not. For example, a person who willfully violates a process or procedure or unwittingly veers away from specifications must be called to account. However, many reasons for failure are either systemic in nature or should actually be praised.

Systemic reasons for failure include:

• The wrong person was hired for the job and lacks the skills to execute it successfully 
• A competent person can’t succeed because a process is inadequate at some level
• A task is too difficult to be reliably completed each and every time
• A rigid, multi-step process falls apart when it faces something unfamiliar
• A lack of transparency leads people to take reasonable actions but doesn’t achieve the desired results 

Those praiseworthy failures include experiments performed to see if an idea or design will succeed or fail and those done to grow knowledge and explore what’s possible, but it leads to a less than desirable result. So, what can be done to overcome failure, which by its very nature is emotionally charged?

It starts at the top

Only strong leadership can neutralize the blame game and create and reinforce a culture that makes people feel comfortable reporting and learning from failures. Leaders also must approach failure in a way that’s appropriate to the context. 

The same context can’t be applied to every failure. The work performed in an organization varies from routine to complex. Leaders must make sure the learning approach to failure is appropriate to the circumstances. So how do organizations learn from failure? 

Learning from failure: the essential process

To succeed as an entrepreneur, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to instill a culture of learning from failure. What it takes are some time-proven activities that include failure detection, failure analysis, and solution experimentation. 

Failure detection

Some failures, particularly costly ones, are easy to spot. However, more minor yet important failures can be buried until it’s too late. Neglecting to acknowledge failures or reservations can lead to disaster, either for your company or its customers. 

The first step in detecting failure is to reduce its stigma. All too often, people speak up too late or not at all or continue along a path of failure because they don’t want to admit defeat. We attempt to avoid failures at all costs, not recognizing that some failures can have a positive outcome. 

Failure analysis

Sophisticated analysis into the root cause of any failure is necessary to employ the correct remedies and make sure the right lessons are learned. As a leader, you must ensure your organization doesn’t just move on after a failure but learns from it, extracting a fundamental understanding that informs the future. 

Dissecting failure isn’t pleasant, which is why a culture of tolerance is essential. A challenge lies in motivating individuals to go beyond simplistic thinking. Only when employees understand the real reason being the failure can your organization understand what really happened and how to prevent it from occuring again.

Solution experimentation

It may sound counterintuitive to create failures purposely, but to succeed as an entrepreneur, you must be willing to allow systemic experiments that often lead to failure. Failures offer valuable information that contribute to fewer failures and present opportunities that give your company a competitive advantage.

Creating an exceptional organization means inventing purpose-built, intelligent failures simply to spur learning and innovation. The conundrum, of course, lies in creating an environment that doesn’t discourage employees from reporting problems without creating an “anything goes” culture that encourages experimentation just for experimentation’s sake. 

To overcome failure and succeed as an entrepreneur takes courage on your part and the part of everyone who works for you. The leader who encourages openness and conversation over pointing fingers and confrontation is poised for success.

The team at The Profit Recipe teaches leaders of all stripes to be more self-aware, embrace their vulnerability, and learn to delegate effectively to lead by design, not by accident. We understand the leadership skills entrepreneurs need for success and can show you how to elevate your team.

The Profit Recipe can guide you through the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) Process™and help you develop the Six Key Components™ of your company. Our professional EOS Implementers™can navigate your team skillfully and systematically through any challenges. 

With our support, your team can get the most out of EOS implementation and set up your business for long-term success. Let us support your entrepreneurial journey – schedule a call with one of our experts today or send us a message.

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