Got your attention, didn’t I?
Now I don’t mean what you are thinking; I mean the ‘F’ word FAILURE. Leadership in the workplace has to recognize, embrace and accept failure. Sure, we all want things to go smoothly, but truth is they often don’t and thus it’s no wonder that people see failure as bad, as a dirty word.
What would it look like if, rather than labeling any task or action that didn’t turn out as originally planned as a “failure,” we saw each of them as learning opportunities…? What might we create? What opportunities might arise for us? What would change if we were able to step away from self-blame and move forward into celebration?
Leadership in the workplace starts with managers, leaders and business owners building a culture that allows for mistakes, and yes, even failures. These leaders understand that if there are no mistakes then people aren’t taking risks. And they recognize this creates an opportunity for learning, and that nothing new, creative, innovative or exciting happens without taking risks.
So go ahead, use the ‘F’ word. When you do, you’ll be in the select group of leaders who have created a culture that encourages creativity, innovation and celebration.
- Original blog post by the Incedo Group (http://www.incedogroup.com)
About Barbara Walsh
Barbara is a licensed Meta-Coach and holds the internationally-recognised Associate Certified Meta-Coach qualification. Together with this, she is also a qualified Neuro-Linguistic Programming/Neuro-Semantics Master Practitioner (Business Leadership).
Barbara’s key focus areas are Meta-Coaching her corporate and small business clients, and on Business Development for MetaCo.
She has recently been appointed Chairperson of the Coaching & Mentoring Committee of the Johannesburg Branch of the Business Women’s Association (BWA). She writes a regular leadership column for the BWA Magazine.
Barbara has a background of over 30 years in business, and over this time, has held management and directorship positions within some of the largest corporate travel agency groups in South Africa. In a previous position as Managing Director of Uniglobe Travel Southern Africa, Barbara was part of the leadership team which took this company from start-up upon the purchase of the master franchise license for the region, to become a well recognised brand.
At heart Barbara is an entrepreneur, and over the past 15 years she has started a number of businesses from scratch. These include SA Tourism’s Tour Operator of the Year for 2009, Specialised African Tour Services and a new social events company, Great Conversations, which she still co-owns.
Marketing and Business Development remain a passion, and she continues to read and extensively study and implement the works of internationally renowned masters in these fields. Concurrently she continues to place a strong focus on her own personal development initiatives.
She has a solid understanding and appreciation of the challenges with which businesses today are faced, and thoroughly enjoys facilitating successful, measurable and sustainable solutions through various coaching interventions.
