Comments on: Redemption

By: 5 Lessons Learned from a Failed Project | The People Equation

5 Lessons Learned from a Failed Project | The People Equation — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:46:39 +0000

[...] week, I wrote about a powerful leadership lesson learned when my key project crashed and burned. People Equation reader Nancy asked about the lessons [...]

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:50:40 +0000

@Jessica: So true— often, it’s what’s most difficult to do that yields us the strongest output.

@Franke: It was indeed a gift, but one that took me a few years to “open” 

@Anne: Wow, thanks for expanding this. . .hadn’t really thought of it as a “learning organization” application, but you are spot-on.

@Nancy: Look for a post in a few days about how I didn’t “waste a good crisis” (to borrow from Laurie Reuttiman, @PunkRockHR) and what I learned from it.

By: Anne Perschel

Anne Perschel — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:14:57 +0000

Jenn – Nicely done but I think you’ve gone well beyond demonstrating how to build employee morale. You’ve described how to lead a learning organization. What a loss it would have been not only for you but for the organization if someone else had been assigned to round 2. They would have to go through their own learning curve. Having been through one already, you manager decided to get the return on the learning investment. Kudos to her and to you.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:10:33 +0000

Jennifer, fabulous posting! Out of curiosity, what were the lessons that you learned that enabled you to turn your second Institute experience into a smashing success?

By: Kevin W. Grossman

Kevin W. Grossman — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:07:13 +0000

Right on, Jennifer. Redemption is predicated on failure, and without failure we cannot learn and grow and be better.

By: Franke James

Franke James — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:41:34 +0000

Jennifer,

Thanks for sharing your story of redemption. Wonderful! I love when you talk about it as a unexpected “gift.” Mary’s statement to you is a real gem that all coaches and leaders should emulate:

“Jennifer, you need to manage this project again, because you need to prove to yourself that you can do it—and do it amazingly well. I know that the next Institute that you manage is going to be a success.”

Congratulations on proving to yourself that you could do it — and amazingly well!

Best,

Franke

By: Jessica Miller-Merrell

Jessica Miller-Merrell — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:36:33 +0000

Jennifer,

A great blog post about a great leader and mentor helping you with a great lesson. I’ve always said that the best things for us aren’t easy or often things we want to do. That’s exactly how i ended up in Human Resources.

How did your second institute go?

Jessica
@blogging4jobs

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:20:25 +0000

@Dee– yes, Mary was a fantastic work team leader and mentor. To this day, she remains one of my “go to” advisors for leadership.

@Victorio– thanks for sharing my pain, my friend! It was the first time I failed so publicly (but, not the last!) and it took me a long time to realize the value of the experience. Sounds like you had a wise boss t00– it’s key to *learn* something from one’s mistakes, otherwise, the forgiveness doesn’t help us grow.

By: Victorio

Victorio — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:27:25 +0000

Hi Jennifer,

This is a great post that I can personally relate to. I’ve also been in a position where I crashed and burned on a job assignment. I had everyone angry at me and truth be told, I deserved their anger. It was my mistake and it was a costly one. My boss was angry, yet she made it clear that since it was my 1st major mistake it was okay-so long as I learned from it.

The company’s culture and leadership is so important. If it doesn’t allow room for error people are not going to put forth the ideas or effort that’s going to make an organization better.

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:20:22 +0000

Love it! And I love the story. Mary sounds like a wise leader.

Your site looks mahvelous!