We all want to avoid failure whenever possible, but the reality is nobody’s perfect, and we’re all bound to fail repeatedly over time. In a world that often celebrates success while shunning failure, understanding how to constructively deal with setbacks is crucial, and it’s a key ability employers should seek to empower their staff with.
The Reality and Psychology of Failure
Failure is a complex experience, often met with reactions that hinder our growth. The “sour-grape effect” and the “ostrich effect” are common psychological responses often seen from employees.
“In the past decade, a wealth of psychological research has shown that most people struggle to handle failure constructively,” writes David Robson in an article for BBC Worklife. Instead of addressing failure constructively, he says, “we find ways to devalue the task at which we failed, meaning that we may be less motivated to persevere and reach our goal.” This, he says, is the “sour-grape effect.” Or, employees might take an “ostrich effect” approach.
This, writes Robson, is when we “simply fail to notice our errors and blithely continue as if nothing has happened, something that prevents us from learning a better strategy to improve our performance in the future.”
Case Studies and Research Findings
As Robson reports in the BBC Worklife article, Hallgeir Sjåstad’s research on the “sour-grape effect” reveals our tendency to abandon goals prematurely, while Lauren Eskreis-Winkler and Ayelet Fishbach’s exploration of the “ostrich effect” shows our inclination to overlook negative information. It’s really nothing new.
We can all likely recall situations where we turned a blind eye to bad news or a negative outcome. That’s a tendency, though, that can have a negative impact on our ability to learn from these situations.
Strategies for Learning from Failure
To combat these tendencies, two strategies stand out. “The first is a process called ‘self-distancing’, in which you adopt a third-person perspective,” says Robson, a technique that helps soften negative emotions and allows for more objective self-evaluation.
Second, advising others on similar challenges can boost our confidence and engagement with our own experiences.
The Importance of Embracing Failure
Understanding and embracing failure is essential for growth.
As Sjåstad notes, “If you never fail, you’re probably aiming too low.” From this standpoint, those experiencing failures should view setbacks not as endpoints but as steppingstones to greater achievements.
Learning from failure is an art that takes practice and requires understanding our psychological responses to failure and actively employing strategies to overcome those responses. Employees and organizations that can master this art will give themselves a valuable advantage over others who only appreciate the negative side of failure.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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