Debbie Lentz, President of Global Supply Chain at RS Components and the Electrocomponents Group
Fear of failure continues to remain an obstacle that impedes success, especially for females. A recent study by Vistaprint revealed that an ‘average business mistake’ costs men £7,050.93 versus £2,701.12 for women. The study also highlights that female business owners in Britain find failure more difficult to overcome than their male counterparts and over two-thirds (69%) of female entrepreneurs feel it is difficult to overcome mistakes compared to 55% of men.
Failure is a fingerpost on the way to achievement but learning to embrace, accept and move on from failing is a challenge. Debbie Lentz, President of Global Supply Chain at RS Components and the Electrocomponents Group, discusses how the fear of failure affects leaders in the workplace and the steps to take to overcome it.
Surviving setbacks
Failure builds strength in individuals and aids learning. By learning from your mistakes you can hone in on your skills and build up resilience – key traits for successful leaders. In fact, U.S National Library of Medicine found in its study of nurses, that respondents with high resilience scores tended to have higher leadership empowering behaviours. For women, on the other hand, the jump to leadership roles is more of a challenge, evident in the fact women represent a small proportion of the Fortune 500 CEOs (6.6%).
Some view failure and the fear of failing as a reason to avoid getting involved in a task or experience altogether. It can bring on immobilising emotions and stop individuals from moving forward which results in missing out on opportunities. A study from Cornell University has shown that women are so averse to failure that they don’t apply for jobs unless they feel 100% qualified, whereas men are more likely to take the ‘what doesn’t kill you..’ approach.
A good leader is one that ensures their staff are in a position to be successful and that they have the resources to build on their skills and are supported when things go wrong.
Speaking on the subject Debbie adds:
“I’ve found in my career that I’ve often had to remind myself that I am qualified and deserving of my job role – otherwise I wouldn’t be here in the first place. I have faith in my skills and have taken specific steps in my career to ensure I have the tools I need in order to lead effectively.”
“My past failures have shaped me as a leader and fuelled some of the most valuable experiences and opportunities in my career. From decisions I’ve made, people I’ve hired, or relationships I’ve built, from each experience I was able to take away new learnings and new skills.”
Learning from failure
Women in business continue to be faced with inequality and gender imbalance, particularly those seeing senior leadership roles. A recent Harvard study found that women are judged more harshly when making a mistake compared to men in the same position. We’re finding that this comparison is resulting in women taking fewer risks and preventing them from taking on challenges when it comes to both their personal lives and their careers.
Once you fail it is common to get yourself into a rut, analysing your abilities and convincing yourself that you were never going to achieve that task in the first place. Success doesn’t occur overnight, it is something that is earned after multiple setbacks, building strength and resilience.
Debbie adds:
“Failure distorts your perceptions and can have a serious impact on your mental health and wellbeing. After failing, individuals often find themselves doubting their skills, intelligence, and capabilities, a common occurrence which is hard to prevent. However, how individuals approach the changing mindset after failure is crucial.”
It is a leaders responsibility to create a safe environment for their employees to learn from their failures. Although for each individual, how they overcome the challenge of failure, change their mindset and build up confidence in their skills is how they can move onward toward success.
Structure your goals
Research from Springer Link found that the emotions of a team leader are contagious, so much so that they can overshadow the emotions of the team. A Manager’s emotions can strongly impact your employees, therefore it’s important that a leader remains positive in the workplace and has a positive attitude towards failure.
Debbie comments:
“Set clear goals, that way, your employees will understand the expectations you have for them. This reassurance of your vision will eliminate any confusion and worry your employees may have of their roles and responsibilities.”
Overcoming fear and changing the mindset
The benefits of experiencing failure go beyond mere resilience. If a leader’s attitude is positive, it will increase each team member’s sense of self achievement and worth which, in turn, helps them to feel a valued team member.
What happens if a team member fails? Understanding the roles and responsibility of your team members is key, it is important that the concept of failing is the furthest thing from your employee’s mind. The workplace needs to be a supportive environment, so should a mistake happen, the impact is softer and they have the support in place to fix it. As a leader you are providing the tools and teaching the skills that people need to be successful in whatever they do.
Debbie adds:
“Nobody is perfect all of the time, in fact, people can relate more to individuals that are both open and honest about their mistakes. Within a team, individuals can grow and excel in their careers quicker from a trusted environment that can provide constructive criticism and that mentors during mistakes. It is important to remember that everyone will fail at some point, but a good leader is someone that can cushion that fall.”
How you handle failure determines how these failures path your future course. By taking accountability for your actions and your teams, and having a positive outlook on mistakes you can not only become a stronger leader but decrease the confidence gap in others.
ABOUT DEBBIE LENTZ
Debbie Lentz joined Electrocomponents plc, a global multi-channel provider of industrial and electronic products and solutions, as the President of Global Supply Chain in 2017. Debbie is responsible for leading the further development of the Group’s supply chain capability to provide an innovative and sustainable market-leading service for customers and suppliers.
RS Components is a trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, a global multi-channel provider of industrial and electronic products and solutions. We offer more than 500,000 industrial and electronics products, sourced from over 2,500 leading suppliers, and provide a wide range of value-added services to over one million customers. With operations in 32 countries, we ship more than 50,000 parcels a day.