As a person who has been known to strive for perfection in the past and would go above and beyond in my work life, failing the first time can suck and can cause you to become risk-averse. Knowing why you need to fail opens so many possibilities in your career and life. As a leader, it can also be a little unnerving when you have a star performer. They have the potential to fail, and you want nothing but to help them escape that experience. I am here to share four reasons you might want to change your thought process, along with some ideas for supporting them.
Reason #1 – Growth and Learning
Letting that high performer fail on something small or supporting them when a big failure happens can provide them with valuable learning opportunities they would not have experienced otherwise. It is also a way for them to gain insights and lessons that could contribute to their personal and professional development, especially if they have people leader career aspirations. Additionally, it is an excellent way for them to learn that we must continuously improve as businesses change, work practices shift (e.g., automation, Gen AI, etc.), and organizations and individuals evolve.
How can you support them:
- Suggest self-reflection and self-awareness tools (check out an HBR article that will shed some light on these tools)
- Remind them that no one is 100% perfect
- Remind them that some of the greatest minds have experienced failure before their innovation was successful
- Support them to reframe their thoughts on failure
Reason #2 – Resiliency Building
Resiliency is not something we are typically born with; growing this metaphorical muscle is not always comfortable. We all face challenges and setbacks in our careers, and learning to cope with adversity and bounce back from disappointments is an invaluable skill. Additionally, it increases your ability to handle stress.
How can you support them:
- Provide your high performer with a project to lead with a 50/50 chance of success.
- Give them challenges that are nearly achievable with a team with diverse thought.
- Provide stretch assignments in areas outside the individual’s comfort zone – think rotations.
- Provide them with a leadership coach who can support the challenges the individual is facing – coaches are great at getting you to think through your solutions.
Reason #3 –Risk Taking and Innovation
Innovations would never take place if it weren’t for someone taking a risk. Individuals are typically handed the keys to the corner office, demonstrating they can take risks and succeed most of the time. When motivated, people can face challenges in pursuing excellence, especially if they fail fast and learn from their mistakes. When high performers take risks, they drive toward innovative solutions that can lead to significant career breakthroughs and advancements.
How can you support them:
- Consider putting them on an innovation challenge.
- Pair them up with others who are not like-minded deconstructing an issue and offer an incentive to come up with new ideas/approaches or products as a team (you win as a team or lose as a team)
- Create stretch OKRs/Goals that require them to take risks (this is always an interesting conversation when you first push them)
- Help them recalibrate and define success based on team collective success (check out this excellent HBR article on the subject)
Reason #4 – Promoting Accountability
When we experience failure, our initial reaction might be to hide in a corner and contemplate. However, experiencing failure can encourage a high performer to take accountability for their actions and decisions. It also reinforces that success and failure go hand in hand with personal responsibility for the high performer’s role in the outcome.
How can you support them:
- Have the individual provide a report or explanation of the failure to senior leaders where you provide coaching on how to be accountable
- Review the event to determine the root cause of the failure, highlighting improvement opportunities versus penalization.
- Highlight to the high performers that having humility and accountability for the outcomes will make them a better leader in the future.
Accepting failure is a crucial lesson for high performers, especially those who want to move into leadership positions. As leaders, mentors, and coaches, we must prepare them for the inevitable and arm them with the skills to see failure as a growth opportunity.
We all have ideas, tips, and tricks that we use to support our high performers. I would love to hear if you have any additional recommendations to share.
Follow Penny Izlakar on LinkedIn or checkout theizzyway.ca for more of her blog posts.