Fail With Joy
Suzanne Lucas
Keynote Speaking | Writing | Webinars | ChatGPT for HR | Improv Comedy | If you want to know how to be a better HR leader, you've come to the right place.
You may have noticed that I didn't send out a newsletter last week. The horrors! I failed! I shall now weep in a corner!
Just kidding. I failed. But I'm certainly going to fail with joy.
What on earth does that mean?
Well, it's one of the principles of improv comedy. Let's be honest, not every scene is going to be funny. Not every act of service you do for your ensemble is going to come across correctly. Sometimes it's going to be an utter disaster.
And then you have options. You can walk off stage and never come back. Or you can laugh hysterically and try again.
Life is like that, too, and so is HR.
I missed last week because I was in the air on Tuesday, going to the HR Days conference in Rovinj, Croatia, where I gave a keynote address on using ChatGPT in HR. Between flights, dinners, networking, and life in general, I ran out of time.
So my options are, to quit writing this newsletter and be sad that I failed to do a weekly newsletter, or laugh and go forward. I chose the latter.
We can't fail. People depend on us.
This is often the attitude within HR. And certainly, failure shouldn't be your goal. But here's the reality: you will fail. Your employees will fail. Your bosses will fail. everyone fails.
It's not the failing that is the problem; it's the recovery.
How do you react when other people fail? Do you yell and threaten and swear? Or do you look for solutions and work to fix the problem?
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A lot of HR people are really good at that. We talk about taking risks and we coach managers that their employees will need a training period. We push for "stretch assignments" where we know that people will fail but it's part of the learning process.
But how do we react when we fail?
It's the end of the world!
We have failed!
But here is a reminder: this is Human Resources, and you are human, and humans fail. So fail with joy.
Fix whatever went wrong. Try again. Don't yell at yourself.
This is HR. It's not brain surgery. But to be fair, even brain surgeons fail. Because they are human.
The key is in the response, which is what I'll talk about next week.
Until then, "yes, and" your life, serve others and go ahead and fail with joy.
--Suzanne
Labor Relations Subject Matter Expert & Educator; Editor of LaborUnionNews.com & PetersNewsCorner.com; Host of LaborUnionNews.com's Labor Relations Radio; Co-host of YGTBFKM Podcast, Founder of Logic Labor Relations, LLC
1 年Great post. However, personally, I’d prefer you failing to write your newsletter for a week than having a brain surgeon fail…especially if she’s working inside my brain. ??
HR-Preneur. 1 million+ safe HR hearings, 8 published books
1 年Perfection is an elusive goal, but the journey of learning, adapting, and finding joy in the process is where real fulfillment and success lie. Great article, Suzanne Lucas!
Human Resources Executive ? Organizational Design & Development ? Employee Relations ? Transforming Cultures
1 年I am a firm believer in reminding myself and my team that no one is perfect, and that we learn more from screw ups than we do from successes!!
Managing Partner at NextArrow
1 年Love this, Suzanne! We called our company NextArrow for exactly this reason. Things happen, but to us, it's how we respond that matters.
Absolutely spot on Suzanne...... The failing is never the problem. What happens thereafter, what you do after you realise you failed - that is way more important.....both at the individual level & at an institutional level. As managers and leaders we are responsible for what happens at the institutional level when individuals and teams fail.... We need to not only have clarity but also have mechanisms and processes to deal with failure - if & when it happens as it inevitably will. Thank you Suzanne for initiating an important & relevant discussion.....