Bouncing Back After Defeat

​It happens to the best of us.  You set a goal and fail to meet it.  Maybe it’s a sales goal.  Maybe it’s a performance goal.  Maybe it’s winning a Super Bowl.  Whatever the circumstance, falling short of a goal can be devastating and if you don’t know how to bounce back and help your team bounce back from defeat, it could have disastrous results.  Here are a few helpful steps for recovering from a loss:

1. Process your emotions.  It is likely that you feel a variety of emotions after falling short, including feeling like a failure, feeling inadequate, feeling angry, and wanting to give up. This is a natural part of the process.  It is important for you and your team members to have an opportunity to acknowledge and validate these feelings.
2. Identify what went wrong.  In most circumstances, the moment when things began to fail can be pinpointed.  During this stage, it is important to identify the circumstances and hurdles that led to the defeat rather than pointing fingers at individual people.  Instead, consider whether you underestimated the challenges that you would face while pursuing this goal or overestimated your individual or team strengths.
3. Identify the weak links.  As the leader, you must identify any team members who played a large part in the team’s failure.  Is this person able to be coached or trained for better performance in the future?  If not, the person may not be able to remain on the team.
4. Find the bright spots.  It’s doubtful that the situation was a complete loss.  Were there any stellar performances?  Were there any small wins to celebrate?  Identify the individual and team strengths that can be leveraged moving forward.
5. Accept responsibility.  As a leader, success or failure falls on your shoulders. Was your personal performance less than satisfactory?  Could you have guided or supported your team in a better or different way? 
6. Adjust.  You and your team cannot spend too much time in failure analysis.  Adjust and redesign your strategies for next time.  It is important that you have a clear plan for how to move forward successfully.

No one wants to lose, but in the event that a loss occurs, we must be strategic in how we lead our teams to recovery.  Additionally, having a plan for bouncing back helps to prevent leading from emotions such as disappointment or anger.  Instead, a good leader will optimistically lead their team to their next challenge with a winning outlook.