Uncomfortable, inevitable, and universal. Failure is such a peculiar word. The stuff our fears and nightmares are made of.
Uncomfortable, inevitable, and universal. Failure is such a peculiar word. The stuff our fears and nightmares are made of. And while it's a concept we easily recognize and assimilate, it's also relative.
For some people, it's a terrible, epic fail. But for others, it's a way to start from scratch. Some people take failure seriously, while others take failure in stride. Some people fear it too much, others not so much.
In this article, we describe the main topics covered in our online course on Fear of Failure, as well as the cases in which this course is not recommended for your organization.
Failure is relative since it is a concept accepted and agreed upon by the social imaginary. It changes depending on the culture, personal experiences, and identities.
Failure is a type of grief that causes psychological discomfort because it represents a loss of a project, a dream, or an expectation.
Within the definition of grief, we find that it doesn’t only refer to the loss of family members or relatives, but can also be experienced when something is abruptly and definitively interrupted. Grief is also the process of facing and adapting to a situation that is different from the one we expected. We also grieve things that will never be or that we never had.
In addition to this grief, failure and fear can make us feel that everything is impossible and the sense of our abilities is distorted. It is essential that no matter what our definition of failure is, to subtract the negative connotation it has and redefine what it means for us.
Failure doesn’t define us as human beings. They are external actions or events that have nothing to do with our dignity or worth.
As uncomfortable as it is, fear is useful and natural, however, some fears hurt us instead of protecting us.
As we advance in life, we recognize some fears are a social construct. There are fears that depend on what our mom taught us, what our dad taught us, or what a teacher taught. Failure is a wildly subjective concept and what we are afraid of is not necessarily the moment of failure, but the consequences and the stigma.
If you’re afraid of failure because you see it as something negative, you can run away from the situation and sometimes you won't dare to act, you won't dare to look for a better solution because you will want to run away from the possibility of failing, instead of enjoying the process of trying and seeing what happens.
Out of fear, we become paralyzed and don’t try something new, or we begin to see people or situations as possible saboteurs.
Our mistakes don’t define us and our actions to make amends speak more about who we are than our failures. Therefore, in this online course on Fear of Failure, we clarify the difference between shame -which is made up of other emotions such as fear and is built with the expectations of our society- and guilt -which is felt when we recognize that we did something wrong.
We also address the concept of self-forgiveness after failing and how to achieve said forgiveness, simply because compassion towards ourselves is key to learning from our mistakes.
The online course on Fear of Failure, like all our courses, is created with a gender perspective. Since childhood, gender roles are more permissive to men than to women, increasing the fear of failure among the latter.
Impostor Syndrome affects mainly women. In all people, it makes us demerit our personal and professional achievements, making us believe that our position of success is fortuitous. Suffering from this syndrome is not the responsibility of those who suffer from it, but a sign that the capitalist and patriarchal system in which we live historically has been unequal and we need to change it.
On the other hand, the Queen Bee Syndrome, which denies gender inequalities, occurs among women in C-level positions, which only amounts to 3% of the total. This is a symptom of a system that is designed for inequity. If you want to know what this other syndrome is about and what to do to avoid it in your organization, this course is for you.
When we fail or go through a situation that provokes significant emotions, we are expected to snap out of it, get up quickly, and look forward to continuing.
However, during this process, we often forget how to manage our emotions. We are so caught up in getting back up and pretending that nothing has happened, that these emotions are repressed and generate psychological discomfort.
In this module of the online course on Fear of Failure, we will discover the importance of catharsis when we are going through emotional difficulties, and how to find our own catharsis to overcome failure.
You will not only learn all of the above in simple 10-minute lectures. You will also gain understanding through short videos and a final exercise that will allow you to apply your knowledge and make a quick diagnosis of how failure is managed within your team.
We propose this online course as the first in a series of 5:
The Fear of Failure online course should be the first one because it touches on a fundamental topic such as the origin of this fear. This means that it’s only the first step toward building a Failure Culture based on initiatives that seek tangible results in the short, medium, and long term.
These results have to do with productivity metrics, talent retention, employee well-being, as well as employee engagement and commitment, and employee turnover.
However, like all our online courses, we deal with taboo topics here. This brings us to another case where this online course would not be ideal for your company:
Talking about how we feel or the things we are afraid of can cause rejection and people may not choose to be vulnerable during group activities.
Opening this space is the first step to achieving a cultural change in your organization. A safe space where people have total freedom to propose ideas, test them, fail, and communicate them. All without any fear, shame, or guilt. This will benefit the company and create happier and more productive people in their workspaces.
In conclusion …
The Fear of Failure online course is also part of The Failure Program, our data-based and solution-oriented bundle of services for those organizations that want to make failure work for them based on the vulnerability, authenticity, and freedom that comes from welcoming something as natural and human as fear.
If you're unsure about which course is a better fit for your company, we’re here to help. Simply fill out this form and receive a customized proposal to discover which one of our online courses can improve your organizational culture.
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Transformemos nuestra percepción del fracaso y utilicémoslo como catalizador del crecimiento.
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