The Gift of Failure

We all know we're going to have service failure moments, no matter our business. None of us work in a fully controlled experiment. Stuff happens.

The key is to decide what we're going to do about our failures...in advance. We need to get the thrashing out of the way when things are calm. We need to draw our lines in the sand when we have more freedom to make a good decision. And, we need to determine how our decisions support our culture ahead of show time.

Should we offer to pay for the mistake? Should we invite them to return as our guest? How much are we willing to compensate for the problem? Are we willing to be wrong even if the evidence indicates otherwise? Of course, we can't foresee every detail. We don't need to. But, what we need to understand is how we're prepared to make someone feel despite any problems. If the true goal is to let no one leave unhappy, it's a line in the sand which comes with a price. And, sometimes it's expensive, in both dollars and humility. Are we empathetic, compassionate and humble? Are we willing to be gracious in the face of failure? Or, are we more interested in being correct?

What's the failure for? Is it a gift...a chance to make an even more memorable impression? Is it a chance to rally around our values? What's the story we get to tell about how we do things around here in the face of adversity? Choose in advance. Choose wisely.

Failing Specifically

The more specific we define the outcome, the greater the chance we won't achieve it. In most cases, the more we define the spec, the tolerance, the result, the likelihood of meeting it decreases. We'll likely miss the target, albeit just slightly. But still, by definition we failed. Naturally, we want to avoid failure. And as a result, we often avoid being specific. We make the target bigger to decrease the chance of not making it. Losing weight is more achievable than losing ten pounds within three weeks. Reading more is different than reading fifty books this year.

Being vague reduces risk. It creates comfort and lets us off the hook. And, comfort is the enemy of success. Comfort allows us to put things off, to reduce our standards and to accept a result which could have been better. And, better requires being specific, which leads to failure. Better is born from failure.

Perhaps we should reframe failure. Perhaps we're achieving difference, not failure.

Things almost certainly won't turn out as planned. They will turn out differently. And perhaps different might just be better.

The Gift of Failure

When you fail, you know what it feels like…to be beaten, to be ignored, to be disappointed, to be ridiculed, to be exposed. And every time you fail, you practice the feeling. Over time, there’s less fear…of what it’s going to feel like. You know what’s coming…and it’s not as scary as the last time.

Failure isn’t something to be avoided. It’s something to be cherished…something to be sought out.