Failure is an Option: Cultivating Resilient and Risk-Ready Leadership

In the always evolving world of healthcare, the path to leadership is rarely a straight line—it's a path marked by turns, detours, and sometimes, setbacks. But, as I've come to realize, it's these very challenges, these failures, that give us the opportunity to become the effective and resilient leaders our industry needs.

WHY EMBRACE FAILURE?
Consider this: every significant medical breakthrough has its roots in trial and error, in learning from what didn't work. The same principle applies to leadership. Acknowledging and learning from our failures is not just occasionally brave, it's essential.The willingness to embrace failure as an opportunity to learn, and the strength of character to own it and acknowledge it, just might be the thing that separates leaders from managers.
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BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH SMALL FAILURES
Resilient Leadership evolves gradually through small failures and the lessons derived from them. It involves cultivating a mindset where each misstep is seen as a critical component of success.I regularly sought feedback from our executive team on our semiannual "all campus" leadership meetings, involving 500+ leaders. While constructive criticism sometimes made it challenging, I had to resist defensiveness. Despite areas for improvement, it was crucial to acknowledge that overall, the meetings were fantastic, as affirmed by the team feedback exercise after the last session.

NORMALIZING FAILURE
My friend, Mark Hertling, DBA, taught me about the U.S. Army's After Action Review (AAR). Conducted routinely after training exercises and live events, the AAR institutionalizes the practice of learning from every experience. This structured, blame-free reflection focuses on understanding actions and outcomes to identify strengths and areas for improvement. By regularly integrating AAR into their processes, the Army normalizes the practice of learning from failures. Academic medical centers often conduct Mortality and Morbidity (M&M) reviews. These reviews focus on analyzing all deaths and significant complications within the hospital. Though focused in scope M&M reviews serve a similar purpose: they encourage open, reflective discussions to learn from each case. This practice, like the AAR, helps to normalize the process of learning from failures and setbacks.

CONCLUSION: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON FAILURE
Healthcare leaders can gain substantial benefits by redefining their view of failure. This shift not only benefits their personal growth but also influences the leaders they guide. By modeling and encouraging learning from mistakes, they pave the way for more focused, innovative, and mission-effective healthcare organizations. Resilient leadership transforms mistakes into mastery and failures into foundations for future success in uncharted territories. It involves readiness for risks, quick learning, and adaptability in navigating unfamiliar environments.