Overcoming and becoming – The real value of setbacks in government
Here is a re-post from the apolitical.co site of my latest article which is a collaboration with a clinician.
This article was written by Rell DeShaw and Almero Oosthuizen. Rell is a long-time manager in the Government of Canada, and Almero is a clinician and improvement strategist in the public sector in South Africa.
Foreword by Apolitical.
- The problem: There’s a lot to learn from failure, but few are willing to speak about it.
- Why it matters: Because we’re missing out on the opportunity to do things better by failing to discuss failure.
- The solution: Start talking about your own failures, and more people will feel comfortable doing so!
Failure makes us human. And it helps us grow. It’s why taking the time to learn from failure is integral to doing things better.
Let’s be honest — it’s hard to fail in government. All eyes are on public servants to deliver crucial services with public financing. Perhaps that’s why there are so few case studies and stories about projects that failed. Yet public servants frequently voice wanting to learn from failure so they don’t repeat the same mistakes. So what can we do to encourage more public servants to speak about failure?
In this article, two public servants set out to do just that by opening up about their failures. They share what has empowered them to take risks, and to be open about what they’ve done that’s failed. No one is perfect — we all have qualities that make us prone to failure. We can learn from them, whether it be with the intention of improving how we approach our work as individuals, or as governments.
Make sure to share your own story about failure by leaving a comment below!
Rell’s reflections
I’m a long-time manager in the Federal Public Service in Canada. This means that I get to reflect on my own stumbles as well as those of my team members and I continually try to be generous in my approach to moving through some difficult moments. I appreciate the chance to reflect on what I have learned from my own failures — doing so reminded me of how I have grown through all the bumps on the road. Here are a few things I have learned:
Mistakes are information: To paraphrase a cherished mentor, mistakes are information. They are not a conclusion that you are a forever bad person.
Many if not most mistakes will be a blip in the arc of your career: I find it useful to ask myself: Will this matter in ten minutes, ten months or ten years?
Every person has their relative strengths and weaknesses: Part of my life’s work is to understand when I will start to slide into difficulty and need to re-calibrate. One of my weaknesses is that I am terrible with details: I recently gave my cell phone number incorrectly. Twice. I also struggle to find typos. I still feel ashamed that a senior executive once said to me “You didn’t even proofread your application” many years ago. (I did proofread it but missed an incorrect word inserted by spellcheck). How do I compensate?: I try to “go slow to go fast”. I read documents backwards, I blow up the font, I read things out loud, I find second readers and I use the simple power of a checklist.
Most mistakes can be corrected: Many years ago I was doing a temporary work assignment abroad and issued a visitor visa to someone not eligible for one. Bureaucracies being what they are, this was caught up the line. You don’t generally want your boss correcting mistakes you should have caught yourself, but we have multiple reviews for a reason.
Take a generous view of how much blame rests with you versus a system or a circumstance: The visa issuance error still upsets me ten years later. Though with time, I can see how I did what I could in unfamiliar work conditions — I was doing interviews in my second language in the aftermath of a global crisis with huge lines of people waiting to be interviewed. I subsequently went to an even more frantic job where I learned about the need to push the outside swirl to the background when the going gets zany. With discipline, I found a way to keep my “core of calm” (focusing on what is in front of you with a spirit of optimistic drive and not on the past or future) and keep making good decisions even in stressful times.
Be willing to apologise. Accept support. Become more than your mistakes: If you have a boss that breathes fire, humiliates and destabilises you when you make a mistake, perhaps it is time to walk away and find a place which supports overcoming mistakes as part of the lifelong learning path.
Almero’s stories
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
I’ve been a clinician for two decades. For most of that time I’ve worked in emergency medicine, eventually specialising and then managing a busy urban emergency centre in Cape Town, South Africa.
Like many, I’ve had an uncomfortable relationship with the concepts of “success” and “failure”. Much of that discomfort stems from considering one good, and the other bad, even though they are not. Success is simply achieving the desired outcome when not achieving it was a possibility. And failure is not achieving the desired outcome when achieving it was a possibility.
Success requires significant, sustained effort
John is one of the finest young doctors I’ve had on my team. Born in a very poor rural community in South Africa, he lost both his parents at a young age and was raised by his grandmother. He was the only kid from his village to finish school, go to university and find stable employment. He ascribes this to his uncle who recognised his potential and pushed him relentlessly until he achieved it.
People mostly default to comfort, safety, certainty and immediate reward. All these defaults must be overcome on the road to success. When we are young, our parents, teachers and coaches push us to be what we can be, not what is easy to be. John reminded me that success is difficult and you need to be pushed or push yourself. Consistent success doesn’t happen by accident.
Failure is the true teacher
Michelle was a colleague and a friend that became HIV-positive after exposure at work. The processes that were supposed to protect her by providing her with post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) were dismally designed.
I worked very hard to change this and involved experts and users alike. I designed a process tool that was universally accepted by staff and that reduced time taken to first PEP dose by more than 90%. The tool was adopted locally and nationally, but I’ve never been able to make it stick in our own facility. Turns out I neglected to consider a critical stakeholder cluster. This was a very bitter failure, but I’ll never make the same mistake again.
Adversity shapes our strength
By the time Covid-19 hit I had learned from these and many other failures and setbacks. Under the heavy burden of developing systems on the fly while taking care of my team and taking care of patients, I first burnt out, and then became sick from the inevitable moral injury.
I experienced this as a very personal failure – a reaction many people have in this situation. I remember thinking to myself: If I can get through this and end up stronger than I would have been had it never happened to me, then even this difficult time could be valuable. Some time, therapy, coaching and treatment later, I’m healthy, happy and in a new job where I spend more time doing what I love and what I’m good at.
Impact requires participation
Failures and setbacks are inevitable, but growth is not. Even bitter failures hold the potential for growth and improvement. Confronting adversity can lead us to emerge stronger and better equipped to serve our communities. As we actively participate in our roles as public servants, we discover the true impact we can make by learning from every challenge we encounter.
“I participate, therefore I am.” – Mugendi M’Rithaa
letter to a new manager 