3 Ways to Beat the Fear of Failure so You Are More Productive

3 Ways to Beat the Fear of Failure so You Are More Productive

• February 25, 2011

The Fear of Failure is like a vice that slowly chokes the life out of you. In order for a company to excel it needs to beat this out the door so people take risks, cut loses and learn to grow to a higher level.

How do you know if you have a “Fear of Failure” culture?

1. People worry about how to present to Senior Management. They want to present the good news and not the gutsy questions.
2. A few people tend to dominate the group discussions so you never get a holistic approach.
3. People worry about being “right” more than trying to do the right thing. There is a fear of looking bad or getting yelled at.
4. You see a mismatch between what the corporate goals are and what is being executed.

So stop this insanity! Here are some ways to ensure you keep your department free from the Fear of Failure.

1. Find out what you do as a leader that intimidates people or inhibits them from revealing failures. Then STOP doing it. I had one leader that would make faces when people told them about a mistake. People hated the face he made so they consequently stopped telling him about mistakes and instead started covering them up!
2. Get your group to commit to how they will all create an atmosphere that allows you to embrace mistakes.
3. Celebrate mistakes. At our house we even do failure dinners so we share a mistake we made, what we learned and how we fixed it or would fix it going forward.

Take YOUR first step to make this year your best year ever.