Success and Failure Are Learning Experiences

By: James Dicks Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Back in the glory days of NASA, during the Apollo missions to the moon, the famed Flight Director, Gene Krantz coined the phrase that “failure is not an option.” And with that attitude, he and his staff overcame some devastating problems and made history. But let’s also remember, they weren’t without their share of failures and they learned from each one of them to achieve the greatest success in the end.

So, in that respect, failure can be as valuable an experience as success – as long as we learn from our disappointments and setbacks. Now I’m not a proponent of failure, as a matter of fact, I believe it should be avoided at all costs. But I am realistic enough to know that it will happen now and again. When we stumble, that experience has a way of helping us to sharpen our skills much better than success. When we fail and take the time to learn from them, we realize what we need to accomplish next in order to improve.

It took Thomas Edison thousands of attempts to finally find the right combination of filaments and gasses that would become the modern day light bulb. Thousands! He realized that in order to successfully accomplish a project, you needed to rely on others. So he brought together teams of people that had different kinds of skills, and started them working together on problems, many of which developed into visionary projects. He set up something called an “Invention Factory” in Menlo Park, New Jersey and recruited the best minds from around the world. Together, Edison and his “brain trust” team developed invention after invention. From light bulbs, to motion pictures, the phonograph – all-in-all over one thousand patents came out of Edison’s “Invention Factory.”

Teamwork plays a huge part in the success or failure of a project. There’s an old saying that says “a chain is as strong as its weakest link.” That’s why we must make sure that everyone on the team is as strong as they can be through proper planning, effective communication, and making certain that the right person is assigned to the right job. A team member’s performance is a product of both the ability to do the work and the motivation to accomplish what is assigned to them.

Success can more likely be achieved if the team leader is encouraging to the members of the team. We all feel a strong need to be appreciated and the leader should make sure that every member of the team shares in the glory. The leader has the eyes and ears of the “boss” but the leader also has a responsibility to share the successes (and the failures) with the other members of the team. Reward the team for a good job. How about buying a pizza at lunch, have a party or maybe give them some time off. The leader must also continue to challenge the team members and foster an environment of non-threatening, open communication. Everyone has ideas and those ideas could be the foundation of the company’s next great success.

In today’s economic environment, business must be prepared to take a risk. But, on the flipside, when risks are taken, the chances for devastating failures or sky-high successes are amplified. Make sure you and your teams are totally prepared for any and all possibilities. Hedge your chances for failure by effective planning but be careful. Many times business plans not to fail, rather than plan to be successful. There’s no shame in failure unless you don’t learn from your “bumps in the road.” Project planning and corporate leadership is about working the correct plan and encouraging the right mindset of the team throughout the mission. We must always aim our capabilities and our intentions toward complete success, rather than planning not to fail. If failure shows its ugly head – as Thomas Edison would have said – just go “back to the drawing board.” Again, failure can be as valuable an experience as success – as long as we learn from our disappointments and our setbacks.

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