8 POWERFUL STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME FAILURE AS A NEW MANAGER

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Babita Sharma, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

8 POWERFUL STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME FAILURE AS A NEW MANAGER

In your role as New Manager, you have to juggle constantly between different kinds of responsibilities, deadlines, and challenges.

When you Transition to a new role, you need to make many changes in your mindset, habits, and behavior and learn some new skills that will enable you to play your role successfully.

But because you lack such resources in the beginning, mistakes are bound to happen and failure is an inevitable part of your career.

And the truth is that it happens to all of us.
But what is important to know is that failure is never final and failures are stepping stones towards success.
”Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
Henry ford

You have to go through a long learning curve to emerge stronger as a manager.

When things go wrong, it becomes tough to survive. It takes some time for the truth to sink in that you have failed.

But because the learning and growing process involves making mistakes and learning from them, you need to learn some coping mechanisms to get up and move on quickly and get going.

So here I have prepared a post on how New Managers can overcome failure and become more resilient.

The post aims to share 3 key things on failure.
They are :
The 6 phases of failure to raise your awareness about the stages of failure and the emotional ups and downs one goes through during these stages
The Potential Reasons for New Manager’s Failure
How Managers Can Recover from Failure.
So first let us explore what it is to fail as a New Manager.

WHAT IT IS TO FAIL AS A NEW MANAGER ?

Failure is a specific type of human experience.
The most accurate and widely accepted definition of failure is a state or condition that results in not meeting a desirable or intended objective.
It can be viewed as the opposite of success. It is an act or instance of proving unsuccessful or lack of success.
For a managerial position, failure refers to proving unsuccessful in controlling or directing a team or a department of a business.
It also includes not being able to formulate plans, ideas, or strategies as expected within the role or not being able to execute the already formulated ones.
The inability to cater to the needs of the employees and stakeholders also comes under the failures of a manager.
After witnessing failure, a manager undergoes a 6 stage process before actually starting to recover from the failure.

THE 6 PHASES OF FAILURE AS A NEW MANAGER ARE AS FOLLOWS :

A manager’s experience of failure typically goes through the following Phases:

1. PHASE 1 -AWE AND ASTONISHMENT

At this phase a manager detects a failure.
It is due to a lack of strategizing and planning they assume that their mistakes were the particular reason for this.
They become fearful and remain stuck by stopping all their work in progress to figure out what happened.

2 .PHASE 2 -DISAGREEMENT AND REFUTATION

At this phase, the manager does not recognize that he has failed. He keeps continuing with the same old strategies and methods even though they are not working.
He disapproves of failure and defends himself against situations and circumstances that are difficult and mind-boggling.
He fails to accept the truth which is failure

3 .PHASE 3 -OUTRAGE AND ACCUSATION
At this phase, managers feel that their organisation or team is the obstacle preventing them from achieving success and becoming displeased with the organisation and team.
They start attacking those around them, controlling them or even forcing their way through.
To save themselves from facing the result and repercussions of failure, they start shifting the blame onto others.

4. PHASE 4 -STAGNATION AND HEALING
At this phase, the manager becomes distorted and demotivated.
He starts experiencing feelings of failure and starts having health issues.
He shows symptoms of failure like low self-esteem, loss, loneliness, despair, and helplessness, and has a continuous low mood and looks miserable.
It can take time for him to redeem himself from his failure and get back to the normal way of working.

5 .PHASE 5 – ACKNOWLEDGE AND CONFORMITY

He starts to acknowledge and accept the fact that he has failed and starts understanding that some things are out of his control and he is not alone in this.
It happens to everyone at some point or the other.
He then starts to recover and move on from failure.

6.PHASE 6- COMPREHENSION AND SHIFTING

At this phase, he starts getting insights and notices the lessons he has learned from his failure.
He uses these insights and lessons to bring the necessary changes in the way he manages.
He changes his strategies and methodologies with renewed motivation to achieve the desired success.
In this way, he starts recovering from his failure and avoids repeating the mistakes in the future.
After understanding what is a failure and its stages, it is important to understand what causes it.

THE 6 REASONS FOR NEW MANAGERS FAILURE

As you have probably noticed, there is a wide range of causes for the different kinds of failures that can occur in a managerial role.

Some reasons for New Managers’ failure are:

1.Lack of sufficient training.

Most New managers are not trained properly to handle the responsibilities and challenges that come along with the role.
They are not well equipped to use their potential as well as others’ potential, direct, control, manage conflicts or engage the team.
Their way of working does not fit with the company’s style of working,
This is one potential cause of why managers lead their teams to failure.

2. Lack of initiative.

Lack of initiative on the part of managers is another cause of team failure.
When managers wait to see what happens and do not take consistent action, the momentum in the organisation falls. No one gets their act together and this is how teams fail.

3. Not taking Risks.

Fear of failure prevents managers from taking risks.
Risks have some chances for failure, but not taking risks is even more dangerous.
Managers who take risks bring greater success to the organisation.
Taking calculated risks gradually increases your risk-taking ability as a manager.
You never know what success an idea might bring.

4. Lack of flexibility.

Fixed-minded managers are not open to ideas and suggestions from others.
They try to enforce their own beliefs and ideas to their team and do not entertain any suggestions and discussions from anyone.
They are rigid with work methods and techniques.
This prevents any kind of evolution in the workplace.
Rigidity also closes any options for them.
Managers need to keep options open to encourage creativity and innovation.

5. Lack of self-discipline.

Managers who lack self-discipline set unrealistic goals, or no goals at all.
They lack the commitment to accomplish their goals.
Having no goals, unrealistic goals or lack of self-discipline creates a lack of any sensible constraints and this in turn creates confusion.
Employees are unsure of the strategic direction of the company as they are constantly switched from one project to another.
They eventually become frustrated and organizational productivity declines.
Managers who keep practising self-discipline until it becomes routine for them stand a higher chance of success as a manager.
They become role models for the team.

It is not important to get things done and get them quickly done.
Managers need to ensure that they are doing the right things ( effectiveness )and also plan how it needs to be done ( efficiency ).
They need to make well-designed plans which address both effectiveness and efficiency.

1.They need good time management skills to free up more time in their schedules reserved for planning.

While strategic plans that apply to the entire organization are developed by senior managers, Operational plans to implement the strategic plans are developed by the Middle and frontline managers.
Many tools are needed for planning like SWOT Analysis, Vision and Mission statements, resource analysis, etc.

3. For their plans to be effective, managers need to develop relevant plans and adapt them to changing market needs.
In the ever-changing business landscape, plans today are living documents that need to be revised and upgraded constantly.
Managers who design good plans are more likely to motivate and engage the team and prevent chaos in the organization.

To sum it up there are some things that are outside the organization that are not under one’s control-like how rapidly an industry grows, fluctuations in the market, and sudden changes in government guidelines that are not in one’s control, and nothing can be done against them.

It is therefore advisable to move on quickly.

However, some things are in the control of the manager and those are everything within the organisation.

Managers must make accurate analyses and judgments of this data to formulate ideas for their team.

This will eliminate external pressure from customers and shareholders as well as competitors and increase the chances of success.
Managers must avoid projecting their failure on their team.
Now let us move to know how managers can recover from failure.
How to recover from failure as a manager?
It’s important to deal with failure to prevent negative emotions such as anger, embarrassment, or anxiety from having a lasting effect on yourself and others.

These emotions can affect relationships and decisions, making it a challenge to overcome failure and progress.

By taking time to acknowledge and accept failure, along with the varied emotions that may come with it, you can better process those feelings and overcome them.

HERE ARE 8 STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME FAILURE AS A NEW MANAGER

1.Understand that you have faced failure.

This is something that kills all of us emotionally.
But this is the first and most important step.
Realizing the fact that your behaviour or any decision you made led you and your team into failure.
This creates detachment and gives you space to decide how you want to deal with a similar situation in the future.

2. Accept your Feelings and Emotions .

Failure gives rise to many unpleasant feelings and emotions like rage, disappointment, frustration, sadness, stress, and anxiety.
If you try to avoid them they will lead you to adopt unhealthy coping mechanisms and can be fatal for you, your career, your team, and your organization in the long run.
On the contrary, if you embrace them, they will serve as a guide to help you find different and better solutions so that you can improve next time.

3.Analyze what went wrong and fix it.

At this step analyze what led your team down and fix that part of the root cause.
Now generate some better strategies for the future.
An intuitive thing to do will be to identify if any warning signs were there before the failure happened.
This will help you recover faster from the cracks.

4. Remember Failure Does Not Define Who you are.

Failure is what happens to you and not what you are as most people believe.
We all fail at different times and in different aspects of life like getting into a prestigious college, getting a job promotion, in your
relationship with your spouse.
But that does not mean your life is going to be over.
It is your choice not to let failure define who you are.

5 .Learn from Failure.

Though it takes a little more time, it will help you get back on track and deal more effectively with similar challenges in the future.

It is one of the biggest challenges and lessons you will have in your life.

You recover quickly, get ready to stand up, and achieve what you want.

On the other hand, managers who do not accept failure have a hard time bouncing back into success.

By understanding what went wrong. you will emerge more resilient and become wiser.

Failing, learning, falling, and rising is the process of learning and growing.

6 . Be Motivated .

Sometimes the cause of failure can be a lack of passion for something.
Follow your passion and do things you love and not something that is imposed on you by others.
Passion will motivate you and you will do your best.

7. Do not Give Up.

Do not give up. Be positive.

If you put your mind to anything you will be able to achieve it.

Success comes to those who keep trying and never give up.

8. Avoid Isolating Yourself.

The realization of failure is accompanied by heavy feelings and emotions like sadness, depression, upset, anxiety, and stress.

It is a threat to your mental health.

To prevent this from happening in the first place, surround yourself with positive people who give you time to listen, encourage and motivate you.

They can be your family, friends, people from mastermind groups, etc.

Another helpful thing you can do is to change your environment.

Get out of the place and travel to a different place and connect with different people.

You will find inspiration and renewed motivation.
CONLCUSION

The career journey is like a roller coaster!

As a manager, you will experience moments of success and happiness as well as those of failure and sadness.

When failure happens, you don’t have the proper coping mechanisms and tools to help you move forward.

Failures are not to be taken to heart and beat yourself hard about it.

Once you know the root cause of the failure, you will be able to fix it and move forward faster in the future.

The strategies listed above will help you bounce back stronger and prevent more failures in the future.

Be compassionate and kind to yourself.

The success journey is never complete without failure.

I hope you have found the post helpful.

What did you like most about it?

Which tip appealed to you the most?

Share your thoughts below.

Babita Sharma
Leadership Coach