Every business will run into periods of time where they fail. If they never do, then they probably aren’t pushing their objectives far enough which could mean wasted resources and less than competitive employees or leadership. This is what can kill a company and can allow it to fall behind all of its competitors in a short period of time, so rather than keep things too simple it makes sense to actually push for harder goals. However, you should also know what could potentially happen when those failures occur, or else you could have big problems within your organization. People could jump ship. Morale could drop. And management could even panic. Keep the following in mind when the failures occur.
Reinforce the Vision
According to Michael Hyatt, the goal of vision is more important than the strategy. Your employees will be able to figure out how to get to the promised land if they are competitive and intelligent. However, it is up to your organizational goals to show them what the promised land looks like. Your job as a manager or an executive is to point of the goals, state how you define success, and make sure everyone knows what the vision is.
If you can find a way to bring everyone together after a time of failure, then you can most definitely tap into the competitive side of those employees who don’t like losing and combine it with the calmness of those who are comfortable moving on. However, the only way you can move on from failure of a major goal is to just make sure every employee realizes the failure isn’t as important as the vision of moving forward and climbing the proverbial mountain.
Keep Everyone on The Same Page
Without pressure, you don’t get diamonds. That is the slogan of many when it comes time to produce in a high-stress environment. However, there are also some problems that can come along with this because many employees don’t like to deal with stress. Too much stress can make good employees leave entirely. It can mean problems and burdens get in the way of productivity. It can also mean that people will start to work against each other in order to accomplish smaller and less important objectives. However, one of the easiest ways to make sure people are aligned in times of great pressure is to simply reinforce comradery and put an emphasis on teamwork.
One of the best possible ways to bring people together and keep them together in the workplace is to emphasize constant communication. It is only when employees are left on an island that they will start to panic. That’s why companies tap into the power of company all hands meetings by Bluejeans and make sure when discussions occur, everyone is always onboard. Plus, by continuing to see everyone’s face you will always have the true expressions and reactions of your employees so you always know where they stand.
Understand the Failures
Being accountable earns respect and is the first part of moving forward in any problem area. Whether it is simply missing a sales goal or having an entire product line fail, there will be times when employees know things just aren’t going right. Throw in the fact that jobs could be on the line and there will definitely be employees who are too scared to think straight. The one thing you want to do is make sure your employees know the truth. Obviously, you can’t have failure be acceptable in the workplace, but they do need to understand they have a job to do until they don’t any longer. If you let employees stand around, then it will be death by paralysis and their fears will come true as the whole unit fails.
What you want to do is understand how to deal with that stress of failure in the workplace. According to Psychology Today, there are different methods to bring that stress level down and get employees back on track. Part of eliminating the stress is simply admitting to it and recognizing it happened. However, if it is in the past then the only reason to dwell on it is to study what went wrong so that you don’t repeat the process again later. If the objective is to move on with success, then realize the failure and know it, but don’t let it consume you. It is only a tool to help you and your employees get better.
When it comes down to the final ruling, you simply need to remember that people can’t be left in a state of fear when the company fails. Let your employees know things will be alright, and get them to turn the failure into an opportunity to get better each and every day if you actually want them to grow.