Leading through Failure: Qualities of a Successful Leader

Failing is doesn’t mean it’s the end of a journey. Rather, it is more like a checkpoint in a journey, with a promising end to the means if taken as a positive check. For someone to achieve their set goals, occasionally, failing is inevitable. The secret to succeeding is taking a downfall positively and getting focused on achieving goals. Failing give us lifetime lessons gives us more courage to face challenges that occur in the quest for success. Leading through failure comes as an ultimate challenge for our current leaders because of their experience through their mistakes, falling and getting up hence making them handle leadership in the correct way and perform their responsibilities in the correct way for the benefit of their disciples hence giving back to their society . Often after accepting hence owning their failures, leaders tend to be more loyal in their leadership making them gain more trust and tittles to be remembered by the coming generation.

In order to emerge as an outstanding leader and surpass pitfalls, the following qualities are inevitable:

• Determination: A determined leader or an organization will always find the energy to surmount the failures which they have been true. Having well-defined paths to follow in implementing the policies.
• Honesty and transparency: making honest decisions for the benefit of a firm has to be on the diary for every leader. Accepting failure and working on solutions and way forward for the organization. Avoiding unclear and shady deals is also advised.
• Confidentiality: Keeping the records, data and policies of a department in custody only of the firm. This will help build trust and ensure the implementation is without any leaks or interference.
• Integrity: a leader should practice integrity in the sense that every activity done by a firm is corrupt-free and has followed the appropriate procedure. It should satisfy the stakeholders and other partners. The leader should be principled and have an undivided stand if the firm should overcome previous shortcomings.
• Competence: to be a leader in a field or a discipline requires creativity and the quality of competitiveness. To be at par with others, a leader must be very competitive so as to secure the top places in any given field.
• Professionalism: a leader should apply work ethic in their quest to achieve set targets. Skills pertaining to the profession should be employed. The leader should always be accountable for any mess, loss or shortcomings.

Getting over failure and going on to become one of the top in a field involves sacrifices, stratagem and having a defined plan. Failures that leaders undergo often unleash their greatness buried deep within. A leader should be ready to take risks and borrow a leaf from mistakes. In order to get over downfalls, a leader should practice the following:

• Leaders must not blame contributing factors of production. They should rather assess the mistakes and find solutions that improve their work.
• Leaders should be able to transform mistakes to success by taking them positive. A leader should not shy off or disown their own mistakes in the making, because when they do so, they will be reducing their productivity.
• Learning from mistakes from other organizations as an anticipatory move will always get them a stride ahead of their competitors.
• Working with the mistakes as they are erased eventually. Mistakes and failed endeavors have a positive side when viewed from the positive spectrum of solving problems. As the go about their daily work, it’s paramount that they endure huddles the same time and with the same energy they use to compile profits and returns.
• The risks taken when the losses were incurred should not be abandoned. It might be that the risks were taken in the wrong approach. And so the leaders should consider taking same risks that caused the loss but this time increase the stakes, factors and capital in order to get better results.

Taking the lead also means that an individual or an organization should take into consideration new concepts and approach to policy implementation. If the previous policies failed then new policies should be formulated. Functional and non-functional requirements should be identified, a feasibility study done by an analyst, and a final draft of how the organization will implement its policies should be selected.

Failing to plan is always almost a suicidal mission. An organization that fails to have a plan is definitely planning to fail in disguise. A well-defined plan should be incepted and conceptualization done. The plan should then be executed as formulated, and in the best and most feasible way. A leader who fails to plan will be inviting failure into their leadership legacy because there will be uneven allocation of resources and other contributing factors.

Leading by overcoming fails entails the agility and courage to undertake a certain endeavor with all the anticipated huddles and hindrances. When hit by a tsunami of failed attempts, a leader should be able to pick up the pieces and brave on into the storm of, say, economic instability, market fluctuations and inflations. Failure does not dictate the end.

As for the record, the end justifies the means. Many people who fail often pick themselves up and end up succeeding. A classic example is that of Thomas Edison, who is often credited for inventing the light bulb. History records that he attempted for almost 999 times, before getting the breakthrough at the thousandth time. It all comes back to the idea of leading through failures.

In conclusion, leading is not always walk in the park. It will always have pitfalls, and numerous huddles. Individuals with undisputed resolutions will always laugh last. It shows that to lead, failing is not an option. The ultimate test is getting over the shortcomings, summing up all the missing pieces of a puzzle, using the failing points to generate answers and solutions. Failing is normal and unavoidable, but the challenge is; can you pick up and emerge a leader amid all the circus and failures?