IT Leadership

I vividly remember my first failure as a people manager.

I was promoted to the role of a team lead, excited to apply my technical expertise and become a mentor to aspiring developers. But as I settled into my new role, I realized that my promotion had been primarily driven by my technical skills and that I had underestimated the leadership aspect.

I lacked confidence in providing performance feedback, I struggled to build trust and establish a collaborative culture, and I often found myself focusing on the wrong things.

These shortcomings manifested in the team, and we struggled to deliver efficiently. After about a year, some of the more experienced team members decided to leave the team, and it reached a point where the remaining team was too small to deliver the required workload, so I was removed from the position and returned to a individual contributor role.

At that point, I was confronted with a choice. I could take the easy route and look for reasons outside myself to explain why things hadn’t worked out as planned. Or I could reflect deeply, learn from my mistakes, and grow from the experience.

I’m happy to say that I chose the latter. This experience became a gift that shaped not only my subsequent leadership journey but also my attitude toward failure itself.

This chapter is about embracing challenges, learning from failures, and leveraging these experiences to build grit and grow as an IT leader. We’ll explore why failure is often perceived as negative, how to reframe failure more productively, and how to cultivate an attitude of learning and growth in ourselves and our teams.

The Fear of Failure

We live in a world that teaches us that failure is embarrassing, shameful, and something to be avoided at all costs. We fear failure for many reasons, but often these fears are deeply rooted in our beliefs and upbringing.

Failure is sometimes seen as a reflection of our character, our abilities, or our potential. It can undermine our self-esteem and reinforce negative beliefs about ourselves and our capabilities.

As a result, many of us gravitate towards comfort zones and avoid taking risks or trying new things. We may choose the perceived safety of familiarity over the uncertainty of potential growth.

However, failure is inherently part of the innovation process. It occurs whenever we try something new, deviate from the norm, or take a chance on a new idea or solution. Failure is an inherent part of leadership as well, especially as you step into new roles and take on increased responsibilities.

Reframing Failure

So what do we do about it? How do we shift our mindset and reframe failure from something to be avoided to a catalyst for growth, innovation, and improved outcomes?

The key is to change the way we think about failure and success. Specifically:

Learning From Success

When we consider failure, we tend to think about the negative events, the pitfalls, the things that went wrong. But in reality, failure is often a collection of these negative events intermixed with successes.

Everything we do involves an element of trial and error. Successes are often fleeting and overshadowed by the negatives, but it’s important to identify and learn from these successes, however small they may be.

Taking the time to understand what went well, even in the midst of failure, helps maintain a growth mindset and provides a foundation for building on success in the future. It helps us replicate good outcomes and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Framing Failure in Context

Failure is often viewed in isolation, as a definitive and final outcome. But failure is more useful and meaningful when we consider it in the context of a broader journey.

In the context of a career, for example, failure is rarely isolated. It’s part of a continuum of experiences, insights, and lessons that contribute to a broader narrative. It’s one step on the journey of life, and it provides valuable insights that can help shape our actions and decisions in the future.

This framing helps us see failure not as an end point but as a stepping stone to something greater. It reframes failure not as a measure of our worth but as an essential component of personal and professional growth.

Gratitude and Resilience

A attitude of gratitude can be a powerful force in overcoming fear and shame associated with failure. When we cultivate gratitude, we focus on the positive aspects of our experiences, which can help mitigate the negative impact of failure and enable us to move forward with a sense of resilience.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from difficult situations, including those resulting from failure. It involves harnessing our emotional and mental resources to navigate challenges and emerge from them stronger and wiser.

Gratitude and resilience together help us maintain a positive outlook and keep perspective when faced with failure. They help us stay committed to our goals, learn from our experiences, and navigate the challenges of leadership.

Learning from IT Leaders

IT leaders have a unique vantage point from which to view failure and its role in innovation. The tech industry, more than most, is driven by rapid innovation, experimentation, and frequent failures.

To further explore the gift of failure, I interviewed three IT leaders from diverse industries. Their insights into how they’ve experienced, reframed, and learned from failure provide valuable lessons for leaders in any domain.

The Gift of Failure

In the next section, we’ll explore the lessons and insights from these leaders and illustrate how failure can be a catalyst for innovation, agility, and high-performance teams.

But first, let’s introduce our IT leaders and learn a little about their backgrounds and leadership styles:

The Leaders

Our first leader, Alicia, has over 15 years of experience leading and mentoring software development teams. She has worked in both the public and private sectors and is currently leading multiple teams in a highly regulated environment.

Second is David, who has been an IT leader for the past decade. He has experience leading and implementing significant change initiatives in the healthcare sector and is known for his focus on transparent and honest communication with his teams.

Our third leader, Sophie, has spent her career managing and leading IT teams in the financial sector. She is known for her ability to create a shared vision and empower her teams to achieve ambitious goals through collaboration and continuous learning.

Now, let’s dive into the key lessons and insights from each leader to illustrate the many gifts that can come from reframing failure.

Chapter Summary

Failure is universal in leadership, but how we respond to it makes all the difference. By learning from success, framing failure in context, and cultivating gratitude and resilience, IT leaders can turn failure into a gift that fosters innovation, agility, and high-performing teams.

In the following chapter, we will explore these concepts further and delve into the practical strategies for cultivating an attitude of learning and growth, both in ourselves and in our teams.