Success is not
final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that
counts.
- Winston Churchill.
Let me start with my views I believe, "It is the task that
fails, not the individual". I have two reasons to have that view. Firstly,
failure for a human being is a breakdown in his physical state and not an
inability to complete the task. Secondly, a task, any task, is a one-time
affair (which may repeat itself at some interval(s)) in which one may not
achieve the desired result, commonly called failure.
My words may
sound mystic, but they are not. Lack of success depends on many
factors, Some internal to the individual but most external to the
individual, on which individual has no control. Only in a few cases inabilities
to achieve success (called failure) is attributed solely to an individual. Most
of the times, despite a dedicated and hardworking team trying their best,
succeed illudes.
Let me examine
the most dreaded "failure" we face in life, not being able to succeed
in qualifying an exam. The factors could be, poor teaching, poor comprehension,
not so good school, the student has no aptitude for the subject, lack of
attention on part of the teacher, student and/or parents, sudden nervousness at
the time of a paper, ill health, etc and the list is endless.
If someone has
not qualified in an exam, he and his environment need to do honest
introspection and learn from the outcome. Remember, there would always be
another chance available where one can succeed in the endeavour provided the
necessary amendments/changes are done well in time. John Wooden famously said, "Failure isn't fatal, but
failure to change might be".
Most of the times, a lack of
success is followed by a chance to succeed. But there are tasks, where, not
able to succeed in a mission would be risky, may result in huge losses,
monetary or otherwise. Even in such cases, people would have put in their best
efforts and given everything that they had, to no anvil though.
Everyone puts in
the best efforts to succeed. After all, who wants to be considered ineffective
and incapable. Everyone tries their best, with all the energy and faculties
available and want to come out on the top in any task being performed.
If for some
reasons, despite sincere work, if the outcome is negative, this is what needs
to be done.
(i)
Get out of the Blame game syndrome, "me versus you", "we versus
they", etc.
(ii) Don't beat around the bush. Be realistic and accept that the desired
results have not been achieved.
(iii) Brainstorm (not blame) about it. Analyse the reasons behind suboptimum
results, both internal and external. It has to be an honest introspection.
(iv) Brainstorming will provide insight with some good and some not so good.
Accept them with humility.
(v) Draw out the lessons, do the modifications needed and course
corrections required. If the need for a resource or resources emerges, get
those resources. They could be information, education, training, or something
similar.
(vi) Put the past behind. Remember the garbage kept for long won't smell roses,
it can only stink. Past is only good for drawing out lessons.
(vii) Start afresh with necessary course corrections in place and a firm
belief that this time around the task will be performed in more than the
desired manner.
Failures
(so-called) are the opportunities to get real-time valuable feedback and are
one of the greatest teachers. Denis
Waitley said, "Failure
should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is a delay, not defeat. It
is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only
by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” -
However, if no
analysis is done and if no lessons are learnt, it would be the real and actual
failure. Firstly, the effect of this event has already resulted in some kind of
loss or adverse impact, on top of that, important lessons which would have
bounced back the team or organisation have been lost.
Only a few tasks
are such where lack of success is fatal. An apt example may be military
operations. Let me remind the readers if the task is so vital,
practice, rehearsals, previews and corrections including training needs to be
done to achieve the desired focus.
All armed forces
all over the world simulate the war scenarios and practise until the desired
perfections are achieved. Despite all this. one side succeeds in the war when
both had done their bit.
Put this word
"failure" which has no positivity or use away from your mind. What
needs to be retained is the lessens. That means, replace "Failure"
with Feedback and utilise the lessons that emerge from the "Failure".
I will leave you
with a quote to ponder -
“You
build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past.
You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let
it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your
space.” - Johnny Cash
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