An individual's ability to overcome setbacks and obstacles measures his/her success or failure. However, even if an individual is unable to overcome a setback it does not necessarily mean he or she has failed. What is crucial in determining an outcome is the learning experience overall. This principle enables an individual to learn from past experiences of potential setbacks or obstacles and the steps to take towards overcoming them.
In order to overcome them, it is important to research into the possible setbacks and obstacles that may occur. Many are beyond our knowledge and power, but we must prepare ourselves to better position a strategy to battle them. By doing so, we can be more confident and positive in applying our strategy and have a better chance at succeeding.
Retrieved from: http://www.leadershipdharma.com/2013/01/28/countering-setbacks-5-leadership-behaviors/
I have applied this principle most successfully in my current part-time workplace. Recently, a part-time manager has left her position and naturally, management is looking to fill the recently vacated position. An obstacle we face as a team is the difficulty in filling the position due to the job description specifics (a part-time manager takes on full responsibility like regular full-time managers but do not earn the same salary, is not guaranteed full-time hours but must be available for them and is not able to receive dental or health benefits). As a team, we discussed ways in which we could recruit for potential candidates and strategize against potential objections (ie. the candidate is not guaranteed full-time hours but must be available for them). By doing so, we better prepared ourselves to market the position to friends, and other potential candidates.
In addition to this new obstacle faced by my workplace, I am currently experiencing a personal setback that is also brought about from the same issue. Because I have been employed by this same business for some years and have made huge efforts in increasing sales numbers and responsibility, I expect that this position will be offered to me. However, I also know that the company rarely fills higher positions internally, which is the main setback that I face. I would like to strive to overcome this setback by proving myself to management by continuously increasing efforts, being courageous enough to ask for the position, and asking for ways in which I can take on more responsibility to make up for the extra added work that the rest of the management now faces. Even if I am unsuccessful in attaining the position, I know that I have tried to overcome the setback that I face.
An opposing point of view towards this principle is that not all setbacks or obstacles that we face can be overcome due to the fact that they are beyond our power. This is a valid point of view because, using my personal setback example above, I cannot change a policy of not filling positions internally if that is the case in my workplace. This can be a policy if upper management aims at bringing new talent and a fresh perspective that an external candidate may bring. This opposing view takes on a realistic approach to setbacks and obstacles as a whole.
What prevents me from applying this principle more consistently is self-doubt. There are times I am aware of an obstacle that must be overcome, but am not confident enough to apply a successful strategy. By doing so, I limit myself to potential success or a valuable learning experience.
A question that still remains regarding this principle is:
Some setbacks or obstacles are not as clear as others, therefore we may ignore them and not find ways to overcome them. Given these types of situations, how can we determine if a setback or obstacle is important?
No comments:
Post a Comment