I recently heard Dan Sullivan, founder & president of Strategic Coach say “Our biggest breakthroughs as entrepreneurs come from things that don’t work.” Dan is masterful at summarizing complex situations in one sentence.
Think about that for a moment. Think back to a project or concept you and your team worked on only to discover that it wasn’t as great as you initially imagined.
What did you do when that happened? Did you toss the project aside, and lament the fact that it didn’t measure up to your expectations? Or did you gather the team together to sit down and analyze the event without allowing judgment to cloud your perspective?
Though it may feel better at the time, the first approach is reactionary, and ultimately won’t move you forward. The latter approach is responsive and will help propel you toward something in the future by providing insights and discoveries. You might identify additional skills you and your team can acquire that would’ve enhanced one aspect of the project. Or maybe there was a technology gap you can address that would have added value to the final product. Perhaps someone didn’t have the confidence to actually implement the project or the idea, easily solvable by investing professional development and training services into that member of the team.
Failed projects show us a myriad of potential challenges, but they also reveal to us the action steps we can take to ensure better the next time around.
Analyzing the process, systems, and steps you and your team used to develop the project is exactly how you will develop new capabilities for the team. What you identify may feel like an obstacle; however, I encourage you to recognize obstacles as presentations of the raw material you and your team need for the next project.
Moving from reaction mode to response mode after a perceived failure doesn’t have to be tough. I’ve guided teams from a vast array of industries towards seeing their business’s biggest challenges as their greatest potential for change. I can’t wait to lead the way for you. Contact me via the form below for a free, no-obligation consultation on how I can help you maximize the future of your company. The road to success is just a phone call away.
