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10th May 2011 by Claire Hill

As a leader you're sometimes going to stuff things up. Count on it.

You're going to make mistakes – bad judgement calls. You're not always going to meet the mark.

It's not a matter of "if" you fail. It's a matter of when.

As a leader in the church you might:

• Have your team put heaps of energy into an event that no one ends up coming to.
• Travel three hours to speak at a conference only to discover that you left your notes and all the DVD clips you were planning to use at home.
• Watch a kid get badly injured at a camp you're leading and then realise you don't have a first aid kit, a trained first aid person or phone reception to call for help.
• Collect heaps of money at a fundraiser you're running and then accidentally misplace it all.
• Commit to doing too many things at once and as a result, have a mini-meltdown and not be able to fulfil your commitments to any of them.

Or you might do something way worse than any of these.

When you fail it doesn't mean you're a hopeless, incompetent leader. It means you're human. It's how you respond to failure that will reveal whether you're a good leader or a bad one.

Negative responses to failure

The ones who lose confidence in themselves

Some leaders respond to these types of "fails" by losing confidence and believing that they are incompetent. They might even step down from their leadership position.

The ones who pretend it didn't happen

Others respond to "fails" by blocking the experience out, pretending it didn't happen and moving on as quickly as possible.

The ones who blame someone else

Others still will deal with it by pointing the finger of blame at other people or at their circumstances. They'll get through it by convincing themselves that it's anyone's fault but their own.

None of the above responses are very useful.

Positive responses to failure

The ones who learn everything they can

Good leaders on the other hand will take time to write down everything they can possibly learn from the experience. They'll spend time identifying the cause. They'll do their own personal reflection but will also have the courage to ask people around them what they can do better next time. They'll embrace this opportunity to improve in their leadership and will put things in place to ensure that the "fail" isn't repeated.

The ones who realise that their worth has nothing to do with their performance

Good leaders know that they have incredible value and worth – not because of anything they have done or could do – but because of Jesus.

They don't believe the lies of the enemy when he says "you're a failure". Instead they stand firm on God's promises and deal with their performance as a completely separate issue to their personal worth.

The ones who take responsibility

A good leader will deal maturely and proactively with the consequences of the fail. If they don't know where to start they'll ask for help. They'll apologise to anyone who deserves an apology, they'll arrange to get anything fixed that needs to and they'll humbly accept any lectures their superior wants to give them.

Next time you fail, instead of freaking out, try to do these three positive things. By responding to your "fail" in this way, you can turn what started out as a negative into a positive. You'll position yourself to become a more responsible, mature, wise and effective leader.

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