Owning successes, owning errors
If you always, only do what you are already good at, you will not get better. Because you’re refusing to fail, you’re also not giving yourself a chance to succeed—just to stay so-so.
There’s plenty of so-so in the world, and if that’s all you want to be, I can get so-so anywhere. I don’t have to go out of my way to get your so-so service. I don’t need to stand in a line to purchase your so-so product. Guaranteed mediocrity is one certainty I can live without.
Make sense?
Stretch yourself.
This was a conversation I had yesterday with a new client…
then I read this post by Seth Godin.
Darn, I think he’s poaching my clients.
There was a little more to the conversation with my client. In many companies, staff seem to be looking for someone else to blame. Joe didn’t show up for work. Sandra didn’t proofread the copy. Ted told the customer we couldn’t…
Truth is, almost always, “it” didn’t happen (whatever it was). Fred could have made “it” happen, but it was more important to Fred to make Joe-Sandra-Ted look bad than to make the company look good to the customer.
(Maybe Fred is you.)
A shame, that. So I think part of giving yourself a chance to succeed—as a company—is telling Fred you don’t want to listen to him hand off failure. Own it, and Fred can own the successes, too.
There’ll be more success to own if everyone knows that going beyond so-so is expected, and so is going beyond looking for someplace else to lay the blame.
Ready to try—even if you might fail—and own the consequences in 2010? I wish you a year of 99 failures and 1 fabulous success!
Screw up! and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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22 December 2009, 7:46 am
Small roundabout story to say, “Yes.” This reminded me of a time Taylor and I were chatting about a year ago. She asked me a question, I answered firmly and she laughed. “What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You totally embrace yourself. It’s amazing to watch, really. You qualify everything in such a way that even your worst faults sound like victories. Like here, just now – you wrote, ‘I’m a fantastic arguer.’ Dude! That’s not supposed to be a good thing!”
“Well no, but I *do* do it well… And it’s true, I like a good debate…”
But you see, that’s the thing. The thing is that being able to own up to faults or errors or mistakes or WHATEVER is part of what I feel makes me a better person, and it takes confidence. That ability lets me be able to try new things, extend my learnings, attempt new directions, and if it doesn’t work out, I own it – and I improve from it.
And so does my business.
Acknowledge it, know it, own it, embrace it. Yes.
(Maybe I need more coffee. Do I need more coffee?)
James Chartrand – Men with Pens´s latest blog… What to Do with Clients When You’re Sick
22 December 2009, 8:41 am
James,
I have to agree. You are a fantastic arguer. LOL.
And yes, that’s exactly it. When you own it, clients can see the confidence from a mile away. “Even the bad things, we’ll make great here.”
Good stuff.
Regards,
Kelly