I have been on leave this week staying at home catching up with various tasks. One of my DIY projects was changing our doorbell. I had in mind one with a camera which integrated into our WiFi and mobile phones so you can see who is delivering your Amazon package even if you are in France. I found such a product with good reviews and a 50 % discount. I ordered it on Amazon who excelled themselves and delivered it that evening, allowing me to charge the bell overnight in preparation for installation. Next day I commenced following the now ubiquitous online instructions. These told me to stand in front of the device, showing a picture of the bell installed in the front of a house. So, I commenced the physical installation procedure. This involved drilling 4 holes to attach a backing plate. My first effort was in some brick beside the front door which I thought might be more secure. However, the drill masonry bit snapped twice blocking up two of the holes – hitting some kind of steel frame. Plan B meant drilling in wood near the existing bell. Not ideal because space was limited, but feasible. However, having started to drill new holes above the old bell, I then removed its cover to discover it was hiding an old wired connection. So I lowered the placing of the new bell to cover this, drilling more holes. `I then had to remove the fitting plate for the old bell which was screwed to the door frame. One screw came out, but the other stubbornly refused to budge and had to be persuaded with a large hammer and screwdriver. Eventually after many trials and tribulations I stood triumphantly in front of my new bell fitted on its now secured back plate. I pressed “continue” on the web instructions - and was told to press a button inside the now assembled and installed bell! This meant removing it from its back plate - but nothing told you how to do this! Eventually I succeeded with some help from various YouTube videos – you just sort of lift and pull it off.
The point is that as with almost any task or professional project it really helps to recognise that it will not all be plain sailing and that it is wise to plan for the unexpected. Sir Clive Woodward who coached the English rugby world cup winning team apparently had a plan B, plan C and even Plan D if the first plan A failed. As with my bell fitting thing still go wrong, but if you are expecting that (and I sort of was after years of DIY) and anticipate challenges it is far easier to manage them. In martial arts you assume someone is trying to hit you and so learn how to block and counter punch.
As this LinkedIn article Embracing the Inevitable: The Importance of Planning for Failure in Leadership comments “Planning for failure is not about being pessimistic; it's about being realistic and proactive. By expecting the unexpected and having a plan in place, leaders can navigate through challenges more effectively and emerge stronger on the other side.” It recommends coping strategies including:
I also like this older but still very valid and relevant Harvard Business Review article Strategies for Learning from Failure which observes “In organizational life ….. some failures are inevitable and some are even good. And successful learning from failure is not simple: It requires context-specific strategies. But first leaders must understand how the blame game gets in the way and work to create an organizational culture in which employees feel safe admitting or reporting on failure.” Essential to this is “Building a Learning Culture” “Only leaders can create and reinforce a culture that counteracts the blame game and makes people feel both comfortable with and responsible for surfacing and learning from failures.” This will facilitate the detection and analysis and ultimately correction and avoidance of failure. There should be “a new paradigm—one that recognizes the inevitability of failure in today’s complex work organizations. Those that catch, correct, and learn from failure before others do will succeed. Those that wallow in the blame game will not.”
The lessons of successful people in history support this persistence in the face of initial failure:
Our new bell operates really well by the way and we can now distinguish between Amazon deliveries (some ring the bell while others bang on door and leave the parcel on the porch), the postman and unwelcome street vendors. It even works as an alert on my Apple Watch. It was worth the learning effort.
I like these inciteful quotes on the topic of learning from failure.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” — Bruce Lee.
"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." ― John F. Kennedy.
"It's only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you're not expressing the utmost of your human experience." ― the Kenyan and American actress Lupita Nyong'o.
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.” – the author and illustrator Stephen McCraine.
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail." ― Confucius.
The point is that as with almost any task or professional project it really helps to recognise that it will not all be plain sailing and that it is wise to plan for the unexpected. Sir Clive Woodward who coached the English rugby world cup winning team apparently had a plan B, plan C and even Plan D if the first plan A failed. As with my bell fitting thing still go wrong, but if you are expecting that (and I sort of was after years of DIY) and anticipate challenges it is far easier to manage them. In martial arts you assume someone is trying to hit you and so learn how to block and counter punch.
As this LinkedIn article Embracing the Inevitable: The Importance of Planning for Failure in Leadership comments “Planning for failure is not about being pessimistic; it's about being realistic and proactive. By expecting the unexpected and having a plan in place, leaders can navigate through challenges more effectively and emerge stronger on the other side.” It recommends coping strategies including:
- Foster a Culture of Open Communication
- Develop Resilience
- Implement Flexible Plans.
- Gets our attention
- Makes us relatable
- Keeps us humble
I also like this older but still very valid and relevant Harvard Business Review article Strategies for Learning from Failure which observes “In organizational life ….. some failures are inevitable and some are even good. And successful learning from failure is not simple: It requires context-specific strategies. But first leaders must understand how the blame game gets in the way and work to create an organizational culture in which employees feel safe admitting or reporting on failure.” Essential to this is “Building a Learning Culture” “Only leaders can create and reinforce a culture that counteracts the blame game and makes people feel both comfortable with and responsible for surfacing and learning from failures.” This will facilitate the detection and analysis and ultimately correction and avoidance of failure. There should be “a new paradigm—one that recognizes the inevitability of failure in today’s complex work organizations. Those that catch, correct, and learn from failure before others do will succeed. Those that wallow in the blame game will not.”
The lessons of successful people in history support this persistence in the face of initial failure:
- Thomas Edison allegedly took 10,000 attempts to perfect the light bulb
- At least four record companies turned down the Beatles before they were signed by EMI’s Parlophone label
- 12 publishers rejected J.K. Rowling’s first draft of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – one reason being it was too complex!
- Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper job for lack of creativity
- Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team
Our new bell operates really well by the way and we can now distinguish between Amazon deliveries (some ring the bell while others bang on door and leave the parcel on the porch), the postman and unwelcome street vendors. It even works as an alert on my Apple Watch. It was worth the learning effort.
I like these inciteful quotes on the topic of learning from failure.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” — Bruce Lee.
"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." ― John F. Kennedy.
"It's only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you're not expressing the utmost of your human experience." ― the Kenyan and American actress Lupita Nyong'o.
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.” – the author and illustrator Stephen McCraine.
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail." ― Confucius.
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