If I Fail...or...WHEN I Fail?

I recently attended the British Columbia Principals and Vice Principals Association's (BCPVPA) Connecting Leaders conference in Vancouver BC.

One of the overarching themes I heard was to push farther and to examine and possibly embrace the ideas that initially seem crazy.

For as long as I can remember my self talk has been about "What will people think if I fail at trying something new?" Will I be criticized? Judged? Called names? The topic of negative conversations?

Maybe I'm just getting older, but what I've come to realize is that the answers are probably "yes" to all of those worries whether I do something new or not.

So...perhaps the new question becomes, "If I fail, what do I want people to think?" rather than "What will people think if I fail?"

Thanks to technology, I believe we have a lot more opportunities as educators to share our thinking and include our whole school community and beyond with decision making and building something new. When we jump from the safety of "tried and true" into the "you'd better have a parachute" zone we can now explain our whys and hows along the way.

People can now see the thought and research that goes into the why we wanted to try something new and can hear and see how we hope to make it happen. So, some of the things I would want people to think about me if I tried and failed at something new would be...

• She tried hard to cover all bases. She did her homework before starting. She had a good reason to start something new.
• She showed dedication and believed in what she was doing.
• She showed her purpose and intention was to replace the old with something that would make life better than what it displaced.
• she demonstrated action steps to making the idea a success (even if they didn't end up working - seemed like a good bet at the time).
• She was willing to learn and made her flexibility and adaptability visible for others to see.
• Wow...that took guts.
• I'm glad she is sharing the failure so the next iteration can be better. I think I will start on that right now.
• She spent a lot of energy and thought on this and so much was "right" I will support her in making it better and will contribute my energy too.
• I can't imagine the guts and energy it took for her to start that.
• If she can do it, I can too.

It is easy for others to be critical of something they were not a stakeholder in. It used to be that if you were not able to be at a table or in a room at a certain time you were not able to be part of decision making. Utilizing technology can help others be part of the process because to join an asynchronous online discussion, watch/listen to a recording of an online meeting, vote online or complete an online survey, or email an organizer with suggestions and opinions can be done at a time that works for the stakeholder.

Lucky for me the older I get the less I take things personally. I expect this trend to continue...Sometimes I wonder if I could be "this self" in the past what would the differences and similarities be in my life path be thus far. What things have I avoided due to fear of what others would say if I failed?

At the conference this video was shown...  Question: If the outcome was that the kid wiped out at the end would you have felt different about the attempt to jump? Or would you still appreciate the guts it took?