Lessons from the Links - The most important part of failure.
If you golf, you may want to invite me along.
While I am good enough to keep up with most golfers, you certainly don't have to worry about me beating you.
The thing is, I know what one of my major problems is... but it's been difficult to fix.
I address the ball with all the finesse of a pro.
I have a nice, smooth back swing.
I connect solidly with the ball. (Don't you just love the sound?)
Then the damn thing goes madly off in all directions.
I know that it usually is sometimes difficult to get advice... especially on a golf course, but one day a brave soul watched my swing and told me he thought he saw what my problem was.
"You are not following through."
It turns out he was right. If I summoned every bit of concentration I had to focus on remembering to continue the arc of the club, the ball went off in the intended direction more often than not.
But the problem for me was that without focusing on it, I quickly reverted back to my old style of play.
Which leads me to the topic of today's post.
While leadership blogs tend to focus on positive things, every leader needs to understand what to do when things aren't going well, when mistakes are made, and how to recover from them.
Which is why I've seemed to spend quite a bit of time lately on failure.
In my post Your team messed up. Now What?, I highlighted how important it is for you as leader to quickly move to take responsibility, make corrective changes, and then publicly own up to the problems - even to the point of offering an apology.
As important as it is, the apology is just the beginning, and all the recovery momentum you created in your initial reactions can be quickly lost if you go back to business as usual.
Like my golf game, your follow through is critical to the direction you go.
You have said you are sorry and that things will change.
So what's different?
Do the people impacted by your mistakes see the difference?
How are you connecting with them on a regular basis? How are you getting feedback?
Without follow up, your personal credibility and trust in your IT department can evaporate quickly.
Without the trust, it's next to impossible for you and your team to be viewed as a valuable contributor to your organization. It's a frustrating place to be.
Almost as frustrating as my golf game when I forget to follow through.
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Image: MS Office Imagebank
This post has been previously published on LinkedIn
About the Author:
I'm the Chief Information Officer for Appleby College, in Oakville, Ontario Canada, where my team is transforming the delivery of education through innovative application of technology.I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.
In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee (https://www.bebee.com/@kevin-pashuk) , LinkedIn, ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.
I also shoot things... with my camera. Check out my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk
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Comments
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #13
Believe me Donna-Luisa Eversley, I have LOTS of material for writing about failure... because I'm always pushing boundaries. You will never fail, if you never try... but life would lack purpose. Besides, it's not really failure if you learn something and change things in your life for the better as a result of failing.
Jim Murray
7 years ago #12
Oh yeah....It's on the list of things to blog over the summer.
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #11
#11 Can I quote you to my wife? (about always making sense?) One more thing I've learned about you Jim Murray... a professional caddy. Any interesting stories?
Jim Murray
7 years ago #10
Jim Murray
7 years ago #9
Ken Boddie
7 years ago #8
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #7
I think you hit the nail square on the head about people being too timid Ken Boddie. We all want people to be honest with us, until they are...
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #6
Thanks Thomas, old habits do indeed die hard, but that's no reason not to break them if there's a better way.
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #5
Thanks Don Kerr. All solid leadership principles do apply across the board, not just IT. But that's where I work, so that's who I tend to write to.
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #4
I might have a good grip on something Dean Owen, but at times I wonder if it's reality.
Ken Boddie
7 years ago #3
don kerr
7 years ago #2
Dean Owen
7 years ago #1