My Biggest Failures in HR & What You Can Learn From Them…
by Alan Collins
Failed at anything lately in HR? Tried anything recently that didn’t quite work out?
Well, congratulations!
You’re probably well on your way towards your next success.
Let me explain.
Every year about this time, I do a personal self-assessment of my total career in HR to date. Successes, disappointments, and learnings for the future…you know the drill. This year was no different. However, as I turned back the clock on my years in HR, I discovered some things I didn’t realize before. After crunching some numbers, I learned that…
- I’ve interviewed for 24 different HR jobs I didn’t get.
- I’ve been passed over 5 times for HR promotions that I thought I was a lock for.
- I’ve gotten performance ratings lower than I expected on 6 occasions.
- I’ve hired 6 HR professionals for my team that I later had to fire for poor performance.
- I’ve had 4 big shot senior business leaders who hated my guts bad mouth me to my boss.
- I’ve led 3 labor negotiations that resulted in embarrassing strikes that I didn’t anticipate.
- I’ve facilitated lots of off-site client meetings (too many to mention) that ended up in the toilet.
- I’ve had so many of my best HR ideas rejected by upper management that I’ve lost count.
I also realized something else. I survived…and even more than that….I’ve thrived! In fact when I examined many of these situations, these disappointments and failures later set the stage for my biggest HR career breakthroughs and successes.
This is not unusual. From my discussions with many top HR professionals and leaders, I’ve learned (usually after a round of adult beverages) that they all share one common theme: if they’re had off-the-charts success in HR, they’ve failed too…lots of times. You just may not know about them. Many of them just choose not to walk around bragging to the world about their screw-ups.
This is, of course, true even beyond HR. The most successful people on the planet have had some of the biggest FLOPS along the way. Check out these three videos…
Video #1 – Famous Failures
Video #2 - Harrison Ford’s Failures
Video #3 — Tom Peters on Sam Walton
What all this says to me is simply this: If you’re in any profession — including HR — you’re going to fail. If you have high career goals and you’re pushing the envelope, driving change, and trying to make a difference, you are on occasion going to get your head kicked in and rejected. It’s inevitable.
You may be disappointed that you didn’t get the feedback you expected, or that HR job you wanted, or the great promotion you craved, or the performance rating or raise you lobbied all year for, or the love from your clients you thought you richly deserved.
If that’s happened to you, no matter how painful that is, here’s one thing you should NOT do: GIVE UP!
You may need a different approach, more training, a mentor, a partner, or wait for a different time…or something else entirely…but hang in there.
If you’re serious about attaining the goal, PERSISTENCE is the key.
However, like most things, staying the course is a lot easier said than done. So let me give you a role model of PERSISTENCE to follow. Someone you know. Someone you see and read about all the time. Someone whose career aspiration you’re well aware of. His name: Barack Obama.
Yeah, I know you may not like his stance on the war, health care, unions or the economy…but let’s push politics aside and talk about his career. He is someone who audaciously went after the most prestigious job in the world (the U.S. Presidency) and overcame every single obstacle he faced and nailed it. Obviously, this is not an insignificant accomplishment. Let’s look at a few of the professional and personal hurdles he faced…
- With just 4 years of political experience, he was deemed “too light” to be President
- He began as the underdog behind Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, both more experienced
- His mentor, Vernon Jordan, told him “it’s not your time” and strongly advised him not to run
- He started his career as a community organizer in Chicago earning $10,000 a year
- He had to raise $400 million – the going rate for a serious presidential campaign
- With the middle name Hussein, he lost votes because many viewed him as a Muslim
- He was accused of associating with terrorists which alienated more voters
- He was accused of being a socialist which alienated still more voters
- He attended a church for ten years headed by a reverend accused of being a racist
- His father left him at age 2, leaving him without a paternal presence growing up
- He was born in Hawaii – not known as a hotbed for those seeking national office
- He was accused by others of not even being born in the US – thereby ineligible to run
- He was raised in humble circumstances by a single white mom and grandmother
- His wife was blasted as being “un-American” and the stereotypical “angry black woman”
- He freely admits having experimenting with drugs including cocaine
- No black male had ever won a Democratic primary election.
- And as you know: no one other than a white male had ever won a presidential election.
Obviously, just a few minor hurdles to overcome.
Of course, Obama could have used any of these as excuses to say: “Hey, I don’t need all this. There’s no way the American people will elect me. Perhaps I should stay put. Being a Senator ain’t too bad.”
Obviously, he didn’t. He PERSISTED. And, the rest is history.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say the handicaps that stand in the way of attaining your HR career goals are nothing compared to those Obama’s faced in attaining his career goal. If so, like Obama, you have two choices:
1. You can let these handicaps roadblock you, imprison your HR career ambitions or force you to give up…OR…
2. You can learn from your HR failures and mistakes regard them as merely temporary setbacks — and continue PERSIST and TAKE ACTION — recognizing that the breakthrough you’re looking for in your HR career is just around the corner.
The choice is yours.
Have an awesome 2010!
Onward!
To comment or provide additional insights on this article CLICK HERE.
Want more insights for overcoming your setbacks and moving your HR career forward. Then, pick up: UNWRITTEN HR RULES: 21 Secrets For Attaining Awesome Career Success in Human Resources. If you’d like to download TWO FREE CHAPTERS to preview immediately, you can do that also at http://UnwrittenHRRules.com.
About the Author: Alan Collins was formerly Vice President – Human Resources at PepsiCo where he led HR initiatives for their Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana businesses. He is now President of Success in HR, Inc. and the author of “Unwritten HR Rules.”
© SuccessinHR.com
January 1st, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Hi Alan, once again you have just put it out there and guess what, it has challenged me to be persistent. Thanks for the continued encouragement and i will continue to thrive and strive for successes as I help others along the way.
All the best for 2010 and beyond.
Keith
January 1st, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Alan – some very good points made! Thanks for sharing!!
January 1st, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Hi Alan,
Once again you have knocked my socks off! I have never sent you a note, but I couldn’t not drop you a line this time. Thank you for the inspiration and the reminder that every failure = at the very least a great learning experience. It’s not how often we fall but how quickly we get back up and try again.
Wishing you all the best life has to offer in 2010.
Never stop sharing your experience and wisdom.
Jackie
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:15 am
Keith, Nicole & Jackie,
Thanks much for your feedback. For obvious reasons, this wasn’t the easiest article to write. Glad to hear you found it helpful. More is coming over the next few months…so stay tuned.
best,
Alan
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Allan,
With the beginning of the new year I just wanted to say HEARTFELT THANKS for building up this website. Being in the leading edge of the HR Profession is not an easy task ( Someone said ” It is the management of the ongoing insatisfaction- Whatever initiative you try to launch or to implement there will be always somebody who will complain about it… )
Nevertheless, thanks for your fresh insights which helps us to provide inspiration for those who like me truly believe that HR specially in these challenging days can make a truly value adding difference.
Keep going, Allan!!
January 4th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Hi Alan,You did it again and i feel so go the capture your beautiful message that i must say you are a TRUE HR WELLWISHER and BELIVER in HR MISSION……can you allow be to make you as my HR Friend,Mentor and Guru…….Please keep doing what you are doing for Global HR ferternity…Thank You.Raza Zaidi(Pakistan)
January 4th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I want to say that this was a great piece and very helpful. I had a year at a new company in a senior level role that seemed to be filled with obstacle and missteps. Reading this piece helped me put things back into perspective and focus on learning from those “failures” and created successes in 2010.
It helped me gain a little more insight and could not have come at a better time. It was inspirational and uplifting. This is a great site that I consider one of the best finds of my HR career.
Thanks
MB
January 6th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Great article to begin the new year!
January 11th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
[...] To provide your comments on this article CLICK HERE. [...]
February 10th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
[...] you? If you had to choose, would you say it’s due to organization constraints, your fear of failure or just procrastination? If it is procrastination, could you commit to doing that one thing [...]
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 am
Hi Alan,
loved your book and love your courage for laying this out for all to see. If you are vacationing in Australia let me know and I’ll set up some speaking enmgagements for you. We need this sort of refreshing discussion here. Jenny. Sydney
March 23rd, 2010 at 4:33 am
@Melanie – Congrats on being in a senior HR role! Great accomplishment. From what you described, I’m sure you’re pleased to have put the year behind you. With your “learnings” from the past year, I’m certain things will quickly uptick for you this coming year!
@Gail – Glad it helped kick off your year.
@Jenny – Thanks for your comments – glad you found the book helpful – will definitely look you up should I venture across the pond – thanks for the invite. Much appreciated.
April 14th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Great post! Very powerful and absolutely inspiring!
“If your ship does not come in, swim out to meet it.” – Jonathan Winters