Resiliency: "Failure is not a destination!" Words of
advice by Coach Mike Krzyzewski at the annual Feagin leadership program - Duke
University.
The 2016 annual Feagin leadership
program focus was on Resilience. Coach K reminded us that "Failure is not
a destination"! You must learn to survive a failure. These are my thoughts
and reflections based on Coach K's talk which truly resonate with all surgeons.
"Why is it that professionals find
it so difficult to move past a failure?" He asked. Coach K stated that
"The problem with being a 'winner' is that we are always prepared to win
and when we fail", we find it difficult to move past that point, recover
and move on. But it does not have to be that way. We were reminded that we are leaders
because over time we have learned to be resilient. It is in our nature. We need
to train ourselves to remember that at our darkest hour, we need to pull
through, move forwards (refer to Admiral McRavens commencement address at UT in
a prior post of mine), gain knowledge from that failure and find a way to
improve for the next time. When failure
occurs, you need to look to the future. It may sound simple now, but this can
prove difficult for those who are accustomed to constant success. "We are
winners. We are accustomed to winning." We need to think of these
experiences as stops on the train route- at some point the train has to stop
either as a planned or unplanned event. But it must carry on after each stop
and move on.
Unfortunately when we encounter
failure, we tend to focus inwards and become silent when, (as Tom Kolditz
teaches us) we need to be outwardly focused. To be resilient, you cannot
survive alone. "A really good leader doesn't go it alone". To move
forwards you need to work as a team. This does not begin at the moment you
encounter failure but far ahead of that failure. Teamwork comes from training
together to make improvements. Through this your team develops trust. When your
team trusts you, you can survive anything.
To be a good leader in
basketball, you need to be willing to run a "motion" offense. In a
motion offense, you are less structured but adapt to the defense. A resilient
leader in any profession recognizes when the situation is declining and adjusts
his offense to suit. They make changes based on their read of the situation
before things collapse. You make "reads" based on your opponent and
your team. You don't wait till everything "goes into the pot. A good
leader rescues his team or allows his team to rescue themselves".
"The best teams have leaders on the court who can make those
decisions".
Coach K, explained that to become resilient you need four
characteristics: an adaptive attitude, the belief you will overcome adversity,
the acceptance that from that failure you can make changes, and the ability to
move forwards.
1. Attitude-
we need a great attitude. After the failure and you have taken a moment to
release your exasperation and frustration you need to be sure everyone has a
great attitude. Without that positive attitude you will not recover.
2. Belief- before you encounter failure you need to
establish belief amongst your team. belief in what you and your group can do.
"Belief does not go out the window when things go bad. Belief has to be
heightened when things go bad".
3. Make
changes- after a failure something has to change. You can't go back to the same
way of doing things and then wonder why you failed again.
4. Go forward- finally, after you have
encountered a failure, you need a plan to move forwards. You can use the
failure as a lesson but you cannot allow it to stop your train. The train needs
to keep moving forwards.
Thanks Coach K for inspiring us today.
Kenneth Lipshy, MD, FACS
