The 5 Stages Of Failure

The 5 Stages Of Failure

Failure is something all leaders must deal with.  Personal failure.  Team failure.  Unmet expectations.  Failure hurts.  It cause us to question ourselves, our skills, our team, everything.  Every leader will fail.  This issue becomes how you handle it.
I am reading Tim Stevens’s incredible new book Fairness Is Overrated.  It is the finest church leadership book I have read since Andy Stanley’s Deep And Wide.  In one of the chapters, Tim discusses the 5 Stages Of Failure.
This chapter resonated with me because of some issues I am currently dealing with.  I bet they will resonate with a number of other people reading this site as well.  The following are The 5 Stages Of Failure:

1. Justified Reasoning – Tim brings up some constant excuses made by church leaders, “Well, our numbers are down because of the weather.  People aren’t reading their Bible because we have so many seekers.  The economy is in the tank so people aren’t giving.”  When failure happens, many leaders’ initial default mode is justified reasoning.  Over time this can look like making excuses.  Do not ignore trends.
2. Questioning – More justified reasoning – “Perhaps the stats are wrong.  Maybe we didn’t ask the question in the right way.  I bet a certain category of people refused to take the survey, and so the results are skewed.”  If the numbers are not to our liking, we often question its validity.  It is easier to blame the numbers than take personal responsibility as a leader.
3. Blaming – Our frustration leads us to blame our team, the congregation or someone else.  Tim had an excellent insight for pastors and church leaders when noting, “Rather than lead people through difficulty, we preach them through it.”
4. Redefining – In this stage leaders will redefine what success looks like rather than addressing the failure.  Tim gives and example, “Well, it’s not attendance that really matters anyway.  We’d rather have a hundred mature believers than a crowd of a thousand immature believers.”
5. Leading – After enough time has passed, the best leaders finally realize it is time to address the issue and then lead.  No more reasoning.  No more questioning.  No more blaming.  No more redefining.  The best leaders now move to solutions.  Failure brings conflict and crisis.  But failure also reveals who your best leaders are.  They rally the team, give them hope and move everyone towards a brighter tomorrow.

If you are currently experiencing failure in your church or organization, what phase are you in?
And by the way, pick you up a copy of Fairness Is Overrated by clicking HERE.  You will not be disappointed.