“Failing forward.” That’s really what this rule is about. When I think of “failing forward,” I think of 3 main things:
- Developing a hunger for learning
- Re-defining your definition of failure
- Embracing risk
Let’s break each one down.
Hunger for Learning: We have the ability to never stop learning, if we choose. Seeking the learning opportunity in every scenario helps us to grow. I’ve witnessed doctors and nurses (who know a lot of stuff) break down traumas that went well so that they could learn to perform a degree or two better the next time. They practiced their craft. They wanted to know how and why they did certain things and what they could do to replicate or change the next go around. Their hunger for learning was off the chart, and so were their skills.
Failure: You’ve probably heard the statement “failure is not an option” many times. While I agree with that statement (we say it often around here), I believe that we MUST fail in order to have success. Failure is only a negative if we do not learn a lesson from it. Allowing ourselves the option of failure with an honest debrief and some degree of change or adjustment is an amazing way to grow. If we only ever have success, or worse, we never experience either extreme (win or lose) we never give ourselves the opportunity to learn from the situation. We sit quietly on the sidelines watching the game happen without our involvement.
Embracing Risk: Stepping outside of our comfort zones is very difficult. I talk to sales professionals all day long who tell me that they are crushing it. I also talk to sales professionals who tell me that they are not doing so well. In both instances many are not embracing risk. In my last sales role, I looked for my competitors who were crushing it. If I knew anything about salespeople, this is when they get complacent and it presented an opportunity for me to capitalize as a result. What happened was that because they failed to embrace the risk of their own complacency, I found opportunity.
On the other side, when things aren’t going so well, we fail to embrace the risk of going back to our basic behaviors of prospecting/client retention/referrals/etc… When things aren’t going so well, we tend to project those feelings onto other behaviors and convince ourselves that since this isn’t going well, that likely won’t either. The results are predictable.
If we want to grow, we must get comfortable taking some degree of risk. To do that, we must be willing to fail. Consider a “fail forward” attitude. If this is a difficult concept or you need some help, reach out. We know a thing or two about growth.
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