Episode 87 – Fear of Failure

Fear of failure surfaces at every level of your organizationIn individuals, teams, units, leadershipIt is a perfectly natural human instinct.  People don’t want to lose face, lose trust, or lose security in the form of their jobs, prospects, opportunity for growth, and payHowever, fear of failure creates several forms of waste and loss: Hesitation (doubt, uncertainty, procrastination)Resistance to changeStonewalling - resistance to teamOvercompensating with process to gain certainty and safety (planning, consensus building, failsafes, estimationAll of these result in very poor performanceThe antidote is in the the culture you build Hesitation - train people (through Agile Games, for example) the value of quick decisioning, and give them safety nets when their rapid experiments failPull change, don’t push itConnect more authentically with people’s sense of purpose, values, and needs.Again, start with willing minds and projects that fit - lower risk, less need for documentation - and pull people to you with the resultsDemonstrate, visibly, the results of thinking and acting in this way, and find people who will reward it (hint, you don’t need execs to approve incentives)