Failure is a normal part of work and life. Let's face it: you'll probably encounter them throughout your career. Failures don't discriminate between top team members, CEOs, or new hires; they happen to everyone.
The truth is that sooner or later you will have to correct your mistakes and solve problems on the fly. Some failures will be minor and will simply keep you working late, while others will have a profound impact on your professional and personal life. Read on for five tips from the experts at tech media company TNW to help you deal with setbacks.
Let's face it
Be honest with yourself: if there is a problem, identify and admit it. Often you want to brush aside unpleasant thoughts, but this will only make the situation worse. The sooner you recognize the threat, the easier it will be to deal with it.
For example, you recently realized that you will not be able to deliver an order to your customer on time. Don’t ignore the problem, solve it right away: talk to those on whom delivery depends, try to find a way out, and then inform the client about it. This way, even if you don't meet the deadline, the client will know that you fought for them.
Correct Perception
Don't delay solving the problem
Any conflict situations are a test for the nervous system. A person is unable to completely abstract himself from the current situation. The employee’s reaction is always indicative: a strong person tries to solve the problem as soon as possible, while a weak person delays the moment when he has to take responsibility for what happened.
Problems at work determine the employee’s composure. Reactions to difficult situations:
- panic speaks of the employee’s uncertainty and low self-esteem;
- indifference indicates that the employee is not serious about his work and his obligations;
- avoidance of solving problems indicates low stress resistance of the employee;
- composure is the quality of a professional who is ready to admit mistakes and solve them.
The employee's first reaction is to defend himself. The weaker the person, the less he participates in the current situation. Disengagement, the decision to shift the problem to another person indicates the lack of qualifications of the employee. His fear is caused not so much by a mistake as by his own inadequacy.
If composure is not given by birth, then a person learns to concentrate on important tasks and avoid panic. Such skills are important for every person who wants to achieve success in their chosen field.
Degree of responsibility
If you work hard, you can move up the career ladder, get a high salary and prospects. Hard work brings not only benefits, but also great responsibility. If the mistakes of an ordinary employee are not assessed so seriously, then the mistakes of higher-ranking employees are a reason for punishment and investigation.
The first characteristic of a responsible employee is the ability to take responsibility. If problems occur because of subordinates, the boss is obliged to take the entire blow upon himself: he is fully responsible for the work group. It is dangerous to evade responsibility - this will ruin the employee’s business reputation, and even after leaving work, he will not be able to get a new job. Serious companies do not need employees who are not aware of their duties and responsibilities.
Interaction with colleagues
Don’t start a conflict in the team - help the employee who made a mistake
If a problem occurs in a team, it also needs to be resolved together. There is no need to look for someone to blame: the first thing they do is look for the mistake and the reasons why it was made. Quarrels and conflicts in the team create the wrong atmosphere in which it is impossible to continue productive work.
The problem is searched for:
- by senior management who are unbiased and fair;
- without unauthorized punishment of the perpetrator;
- without stopping the work of the entire working group;
- in a calm atmosphere.
The team must maintain normal relations until the problem is resolved. Quarrels will only harm a group of employees who are trying to resolve the current situation without losses for the company.
It is necessary to support an employee who has made a mistake - no one is immune from the problem. The trouble will end, but relationships in the team will remain: it is in the interests of employees to avoid protracted conflicts.
Solving the problem
To solve problems, their root cause is determined. This is a factor that needs to be avoided in the future. Problems that arise are resolved by the boss or the person directly responsible for the situation. If the problem has consequences for the company, the responsible employee is responsible for eliminating them.
The whole team is involved in solving a complex problem. The faster the mistake is eliminated, the easier the working group will return to its previous mode. It is important not to make the culprit seem like an outcast. A friendly and calm atmosphere should remain among employees.
Remember
- Failure is a common part of our lives and work.
- Everyone makes mistakes: experienced employees and newbies. Therefore, it is important to be able to quickly find a way out of the situation.
- To cope with failure at work, you need to admit that there is a problem.
- Remember that sooner or later everything will be resolved, and failure in itself does not make you a failure.
- Don't be afraid to ask your colleagues for help. Be honest with him.
- Move on, don't dwell on past failures.
What failures have you encountered at work? How did you get out of the situation? Share in the comments to the article!
Based on materials from thenextweb.com
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View our curriculum catalogue. Stepan Dobrodumov Author of the media portal of the Russian School of Management
Stress at work, how to cope?
The stress points certainly vary between industries and different jobs, but many of them overlap and are the same for all workers in all occupations.
These may include:
Reduction/dismissal
Difficulties in the country's economy or the problems of an individual company that is going through a crisis lead to staff reductions. Many workers, whether hourly or salaried, feel panic and fear of losing their jobs, especially as they see the economy imploding and more and more people around them finding themselves on the street without jobs or livelihoods.
Increased load
If someone leaves, then some of the responsibilities of those fired are transferred to others. It is exhausting both physically and mentally. Salaried workers are finding that they are spending more time at work without increased pay, and they have to come to terms with this and somehow deal with the consequences of overload in the workplace.
Excessive demands
A manager who is heavily focused on performance indicators and reporting may not realize that these constant measurements and the race for KPIs create a strong psychological burden on employees.
Increased working hours
Salaried and hourly workers who are required to work long hours suffer a variety of mental and physical health problems depending on the type of work they perform. They are more prone to heart disease, diabetes and weight gain. Physically unhealthy people are less able to cope with and cope with stressors; and these two circumstances continuously aggravate each other, with depression caused by health problems, and health problems fueled by depression.
Conflicts with colleagues
Think about it - you spend more time with strangers than with your friends and family. If you don't get along with the people you work with, it naturally causes anxiety, low productivity, and lack of energy, among other serious problems.
Why is constant stress at work so harmful?
Stress accumulates and its impact on workers is inevitable. This leads to the onset of physical illness.
As already mentioned, troubles make us unhealthy, it is difficult to deal with them, it is difficult to cope alone. Stress does have physical consequences, and many work woes result in large numbers of people getting sick. For employers, this means work stoppages or increased health insurance costs for employees.
Depression
Without good coping strategies, all this will lead to depression. And this is already more difficult to deal with. You can't cope without doctors.
Violence
25% of people have felt at least once a strong urge to yell at a co-worker, while 14% have felt the urge to hit them. This puts employees in a truly dangerous position in the workplace.
Decrease in labor productivity
If a person is experiencing psychological stress, he is unlikely to try to achieve maximum productivity, thanks if the employee does anything at all.
Personal problems
When a profession causes fatigue and burnout, these consequences do not end at the threshold of the enterprise, they enter into a person’s personal life and home. This is a vicious circle: after all, the family problems that arise from this are brought to work. It is a cruel cycle that leads people to stop doing anything at all.
Problems with employee retention in the workplace
19% of people quit their jobs due to stress they experienced at work. If the situation becomes too tense, you will lose employees. Ironically, the best employees will be the first to leave, because they were the ones who had the greatest responsibility and the heaviest workload.
If you're an employer, here's what you can do for your employees before it's too late.
If you're a stressed employee, share these tips with management whenever possible to help yourself and your colleagues.
Situation 4. Manual control led the company to a dead end
A leader today is not only one who demonstrates his abilities, he is primarily one who is able to create new leaders. There is nothing worse when the boss says that everyone should develop and make sales, but does not tolerate a single person who disagrees with him and comes up with interesting ideas. If the boss wants his subordinates to confirm the idea of his greatness, he will get people on his team - managers, not leaders, who will rely on him to be satisfied, and not make independent decisions. This is the sin of home-type management: the manager selects people who are convenient for him. And all companies are focused on the boss, who is not so easy to bear the entire burden of responsibility.
In large companies, this happens at the departmental level, when managers behave parochially and are afraid that their subordinates will be noticed by their superiors and will communicate without them. It turns out that if subordinates express themselves, they are pulled back. In such companies, it is difficult to develop leaders because people's resources are spent on survival rather than business development.
The first thing a true leader must create in a company to turn the tide is to create psychological safety for people. They must clearly understand what is possible and what is not. They must feel that if they try and comply, they are protected from the emotional outbursts of management. The leader encourages when people express themselves in the correct form, because this is what development is all about. It is often easier to start changing behavior not from work, but from personal life, since in the family we repeat our behavioral patterns.
- Ladder of success. Why money doesn't make us happy
Fear of failure
Paradoxically, the stronger the fear of making a mistake, the greater the likelihood of making one.
- Give yourself room to make mistakes. Only those who do nothing make no mistakes. But distinguish mistakes from manifestations of negligence and irresponsibility.
- Treat mistakes as a way to gain experience. Ask any professional how many big things are hidden behind his skill.
- Get rid of negative thoughts and don't plague yourself with premonitions of failure. A positive attitude is already half the success.
- Throughout your life, you have dealt with difficulties more than once. Remember your victories and achievements, this will give you self-confidence.
If your job is making your life miserable, it may be better to change it. But if the situation repeats itself again and again, the problem is you, and it’s time to sort yourself out. By working on yourself, you change the world around you. Take care of the health of your soul and body. If harmony reigns inside a person, failures bypass the lucky person. Live life to the fullest and enjoy your work!
Situation 2. During personnel changes, you and your employees are laid off
In a situation where a leader loses status and power, it is easy to fall into apathy and withdraw into oneself. This happens with sudden personnel changes. Just yesterday, a person had influence in the company, he dedicated himself to his work, overworked, and now he has been demoted and is spending his last days in the same place. I want to drop everything and leave. If a person exhibits managerial courage and continues to take responsibility for his team, such leadership behavior builds not only respect, but also professional trust from senior management.
The top manager of one international corporation was laid off because it was necessary to appoint a foreigner to the management position. It was hard for him to stay in the company for another three months and hand over the cases. However, instead of being upset by the transfer of affairs, he took a different path - he was friendly, supportive of the new person who came from another country to take his place. The receiver was very surprised; he expected a completely different contact. Thanks to the correct line of behavior, the top manager increased his reputation in the eyes of senior management.
The first thing you need to do is stabilize your emotional state. They say: if you want to deprive a person of success, deprive him of his balance. As soon as we lose calm and emotional stability, we become reactive, that is, we do not take actions ourselves, but react emotionally to the actions of other people. Such actions can often be ineffective in terms of process and relationship building.
