When all else fails…
“Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success.”
I am not aware of too many businesses where failure is encouraged.
It’s usually the opposite.
In most, making mistakes, consistently or otherwise, can get you fired.
In his latest book, Black Box Thinking, Matthew Syed references the healthcare industry and commercial aviation as examples of different ways to deal with failure.
In healthcare in the US, the 3rd highest cause of death right after cancer and heart related illness is human error.
Despite some headline grabbing disasters, flying is one of the safest modes of transport, and getting safer.
In fact, the airline industry has consistently used failure to improve safety whereas the medical world has, for whatever reason, been less inclined to find fault with itself.
Small businesses don’t usually have the time and resource to diagnose ‘failure’ to the same extent as the airline industry but if they are to survive and thrive they need to show great self-awareness.
Native training, fire and hire or increased marketing expenditure won’t always solve the problem – especially if you find yourself looking at the wrong problem.
People in general, tend not to set out to disrupt a business – it’s usually a “process” failure, a problem with “communications” or the management of both which leads to the failure.
Shift Control is currently working with a number of SMEs and start-ups across Ireland where we offer an external perspective, looking for “blind spots” and helping improve business development and customer service activities
Our job is not to promise to eradicate failure but more to use those findings to improve performance.
If you are interested in a strategic approach to business development through marketing communications, sales strategy, value proposition development and brand management, then please get in touch – emailing info@shift-control.co.uk – we would be happy to have a discussion with you, offering a no-obligation free-of-charge “diagnostic” session.
