Learn from What Doesn’t Work
Learning from what works is easy, but sometimes, you need to know when to change direction as well as knowing when to stay on your original course.
The Big Picture
Not everything you do will work. Some of what you try to do will be ignored or backfire. Managing the fall-out involves differentiating between an adverse reaction when you are doing the right thing, and a negative reaction when the sceptics are right and you need to change your approach.
When there is a negative reaction it is important to seek to judge whether it is right to stick to your preferred approach or adapt your stance, acknowledging that you are learning from experience and taking people’s views into account.
An important balance is needed between being resolute in pursuing your direction and being adaptable to take into account different and new perspectives. Others will bring greater and different experience and may well identify where you have not got it right.
If you continually widen your repertoire of approaches then you will be open to trying different things and be willing to withdraw and regroup when that is necessary. You may think that acknowledging when something is not working is a black mark on you. But people will be much more likely to follow you if they observe you being willing to learn from your experiences and being willing to adapt your approach in the light of new information and different insights.
An Example
Alex recognised that she did not have a lot of experience in building agreement about how to structure a new organisation. She had run projects before successfully and was drawing on that experience, but bringing two departments together was a new departure. Initially she was over hesitant, and then oscillated to become too prescriptive. Alex was learning all the time about when to set out a clear direction and when to engage with others and seek to define an agreed way forward.
Alex was heavily criticised by one group for putting forward a proposal that seemed to ignore their particular concerns. Alex thought they had overreacted, but acknowledged that there was some truth in their criticisms. Alex engaged with this group in a way which meant they addressed the issue as a shared concern rather than a two-sided disagreement. Alex won them round through her willingness to understand their perspectives and work more closely with them.
Practical tips…
- See apparent failures as valuable learning.
- Recognise that you are widening your repertoire of approaches all the time, learning through what is working well or less well.
- Be willing to acknowledge to others that you are continually learning and share that learning with others.
- When an approach does not work, try to work jointly to move forward rather than having a negative debate about what has gone wrong.
