I failed at work. How can I recover from this?

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Question: I failed at work. How can I recover from this and show my manager and colleagues that I am still worthy of their trust?

We asked Chenai Kadungure, executive director of the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario, to tackle this one:

Failure is human. It’s not fatal. It’s also a part of learning, so we need to flip the way we view it. The avoidance of failure, or that obsession with perfection, is usually what gets us into trouble. There has to be self-forgiveness.

After a failure, you need to assess the situation and ask yourself, ‘What happened? What led to me dropping the ball?’ I often find that failure happens when someone is juggling too much. You need to have a realistic understanding of what your capacity is and what your limitations are. Perpetual people pleasers often struggle with that; you aren’t able to say yes to everything that’s coming your way.

When it comes to building trust after a failure, I think integrity builds trust. Your boss should not be the last to know you dropped that ball. It’s about having a face-to-face meeting, telling them what happened and giving a sincere apology. Then, tell them you’ve analyzed what happened and you are working on making sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s the reassurance they need. Remember that everyone fails at some time or another, so your boss has failed too. I always try to remember that for every person with the title of CEO, there was someone who overlooked their flaws.

Imposter syndrome is something that can be very debilitating, especially for women. We tend to have negativity bias. If you already have imposter syndrome and then you fail at something, that could take you out of the ring altogether. I always say: ‘Think about the advice you would give a friend in this situation.’ We have more grace for other people than we have for ourselves. Protect your confidence and remind yourself of the value that you add to your workplace.

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, has talked about how her dad used to encourage her by asking her, ‘How did you fail this week?’ I think we as a culture need to be more okay with failing. Seeing failure as a positive and using it as a springboard for what you need to do to improve is what separates the people who’ve done amazing things and the people who are stuck in their tracks.

Submit your own questions to Ask Women and Work by e-mailing us at [email protected].

The surprising monthly ritual that keeps me grounded as a leader – sound baths

“Once a month, I find myself in a quiet room, surrounded by five or six strangers, lying down on a yoga mat with pillows and blankets, preparing for an hour-long sound bath,” says Amanda Cupido, founder and chief executive officer of Lead Podcasting and adjunct professor in the School of Media at Seneca Polytechnic.

“The room is dimly lit and filled with windchimes, gongs and singing bowls. They are carefully dispersed throughout the space, with some hanging from the ceiling. It can sound a bit hokey, but I swear by it.

“A sound bath is when a facilitator plays a variety of calming instruments, generally including singing bowls, which are made from crystals or metals and struck gently with a mallet. People in attendance are ‘bathed’ in sound waves. They are typically held for small groups so attendees can be close to the instruments.”

Read how sounds baths can help people access the theta state, which is said to be where creativity and intuition are at their highest.

A positive mindset can lift your day and elevate your career. Thirteen ways to make it happen

“One person’s upbeat outlook at work can light up the entire office, influencing not just their own productivity but also uplifting the team’s morale,” says Merge Gupta-Sunderji, chief executive officer of the leadership development consultancy Turning Managers Into Leaders.

“Just as often, disapproval and pessimism in a single person can spread like wildfire, dampening the collective energy of the entire group. But a positive attitude at work does more than just make the days more enjoyable; it catalyzes heightened performance, sparks creativity and opens doors to career opportunities.

“On the personal front, positivity is closely associated with improved well-being, both lessening stress and furthering job satisfaction. At the team level, a positive vibe from even one member can foster a more compassionate and collaborative environment, making targets seem attainable and difficulties manageable. A positive mindset can not only lift your day from average to excellent, but can also elevate your entire career trajectory.”

Read about 13 specific things you can do to foster a more positive state of mind.

Being responsible has become ‘a tangle of traps’: Here’s five for business leaders to avoid

Alison Taylor, a New York University professor specializing in corporate responsibility and business ethics, says her students are shocked to learn corporations were once expected to be politically neutral. Her students count on their employers and organizations they do business with to have the correct political position. So do many older workers.

“Reputation management now involves playing Whac-A-Mole with faceless activist groups on the internet, whose viral successes spring from nowhere,” she writes in Higher Ground.

It’s a labyrinth of expectations, beyond (but still including) profits. Working with various organizations across the globe, she stresses that none gets everything right and she cannot name good or bad businesses – only better and worse ones. Indeed, they get better by responding to ethical friction. In fact, some of the best new ideas have been generated in controversial sectors by companies facing existential challenges as they strive to recover from serious mistakes.

Read about the clichés, myths and misunderstandings we have about responsible business that can be tricky to navigate.

How femtech companies are tackling gender health gaps while empowering women

Not many people decide to pursue a business idea while undergoing cancer treatment, but Rachel Bartholomew was determined to address the gender health gaps she uncovered firsthand.

After being diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2019, Ms. Bartholomew discovered that women were still using devices called dilators that were first designed in 1938 for pelvic floor rehabilitation. (This kind of rehab can treat issues including incontinence, pain during intercourse and organ prolapse after pelvic disease diagnosis.) She also learned how little information there was on women’s pelvic disease and other health conditions affecting female bodies.

“I was handed this 84-year-old standard of care that is handed out in all of our cancer centres across Canada,” Ms. Bartholomew says. “So I was like, ‘Okay, somebody’s got to do something about this.’”

Ms. Bartholomew founded Hyivy Health, a Kitchener, Ont.-based company whose first product is a Bluetooth-connected device called “Floora” for women with pelvic floor conditions.

Read the full article.

Why gender analytics is good for business

Six years ago, McCarthy Uniforms, which has been making school and workplace uniforms since 1956, was struggling to expand internationally and teetering on bankruptcy.

Then, in 2017, the Toronto company conducted a gender-based analysis of their business, a multistep process to investigate how gender and other identity factors may relate to a business problem and uncover potential solutions.

Through the review, the company discovered, among other things, that female professionals such as bus drivers were encountering issues wearing uniforms designed for male bodies. So, McCarthy added a uniform line for women, brought in products with more stretch and introduced fitting days so drivers could find the apparel that worked for them.

“They had one bus driver, a woman, who tried on her uniform for the first time and just started crying. It was the first time she’d had clothes that actually fit her,” says Sarah Kaplan, distinguished professor of gender and the economy at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and co-author of a case study on McCarthy’s experience.

Read the full article.

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