A fear of failure

We are often told that one of the main differences between UK and US entrepreneurs is that British entrepreneurs are scared of the social embarrassment failure will bring, while in the US, entrepreneurs wear their previous failures as badges of honour, rather like an old war wound.
Each failure is treated as a learning curve with a heavy dose of Nietzsche thrown in for good measure; anything that doesn’t kill me just makes me stronger. Consequently they have the confidence and courage to try again.

It is of course very easy to be relaxed about the loss of someone else’s money, however there does lurk a kernel of truth in all of this. Certainly the most successful people I have met in my life have not just been the most highly motivated, they have been prepared to take risks and were not afraid of failing. They often risked the security and comfort blanket of long term employment to move into a different environment - one in which the rewards were much higher but also came with
a very real chance of failure.

Lacking a fear of failure is precisely what has spurred on some of the world’s most innovative businessmen. Sir Philip Green had four business failures before making his first million. Harland David Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, had his recipe for fried chicken rejected 1,009 times before finding a restaurant that accepted it. Richard Branson has had his share of failures.
The point is that these people did not give up. They were prepared to risk rejection and failure and eventually succeeded.

So how does this apply to the current business environment? Clearly all firms need to constantly evolve and develop, but a restraining fear of failure or of making a mistake can only damage this. As a partner, one is given a degree of flexibility in which to try to make something happen. However firms also need to get the best out of a work force who are scared of making a mistake.

I will always remember a conversation between my friend (a professional rugby player) and his coach.  After an early match for one of the Welsh regions, the coach had asked him how he thought he had played. My friend responded: “I thought I played quite well. I won all my line out balls,
I did not knock the ball on or drop it and the scrum held up well.”

The coach raised his eyebrows, shook his head and told him he had played poorly. Why? Because my friend had not been creative. He had not tried to make something happen. He was just sitting in a comfort zone, more interested in not making a mistake than trying to make a difference. He later remarked that that one conversation had changed his approach to rugby.

Playing it safe is of course an easy trap to fall into and to be honest, the majority of us have had a manager who believed we were being paid to sit in the corner and do what we were told. How does that make you feel? Initially, pretty demotivated, after which you either accepted the situation or decided to follow up on one of those recruitment agency telephone calls that we all receive so regularly. So how can you translate the fear of failure into a positive force?

Certainly legal and accountancy firms have a professional indemnity policy to worry about. Therefore any innovative actions have to be directed inwards or cleared before they leave the office. However it remains important to encourage creative thought and not run someone down when they come up with a bad idea or make an error.  We have all made our fair share of mistakes during our careers. But most of us learned from those mistakes and were wiser for the experience, often looking back on it as a valuable experience.

Staff need to be able to demonstrate their creativity, feel that they are wanted and have their opinions respected.  So why not take a small risk and give your staff a greater degree of freedom?  Let them pursue innovative ideas.  Give them the flexibility to fail, and most importantly let them know that a failure will not be the beginning of the end of their career; it may just give them the confidence to make a real difference.

Geraint Jones is a tax partner at Berg Kaprow Lewis

He writes the regular in-practice article on doing business for Private Client Adviser