The Fear Factor – Fear, The New Fuel for Performance
Hello Igniters!
As a coach, I believe the best coaching experience I can provide is when you feel "comfortably uncomfortable”. One of the most powerful insights I’ve witnessed in coaching is when someone realizes how much fear—especially the fear of failure—has been quietly influencing their decisions, limiting their potential, and shaping their behavior. The thought of failure can be paralyzing, but it can also be a catalyst for bold action. Understanding its role in your life can unlock new levels of performance, resilience, and success.
The Insight Igniter question for March 10, 2025
"How does the thought of failure influence your choices and behaviors?"
Let’s explore this question together, to uncover how understanding failure connects leadership and performance, paves a path for change and influences our decision making.
Connecting Leadership and Performance
Decisiveness, confidence, and adaptability would be characteristics I would use to describe a high performing leader. Yet the thought of failure can create an invisible force, shifting even the strongest leaders’ default to playing it safe, choosing predictability over innovation, and avoiding difficult but necessary conversations. “We act but see no results. If I can’t turn this department around…I will be out of a job.” my client said. Further discussion uncovered they were trying to mend a gunshot wound with a band-aid by borrowing solutions from other functions in the hope that familiarity would bring stability and lead to success. "How does the thought of failure influence your choices and behaviors?” I could see the shift in real time. The conversation turned from damage control to possibility, and from hesitation to action. Wrapping up the coaching session the leader left with bold new actions and challenged legacy thinking and systems, which they believed would create lasting impact. The real risk isn’t failure itself—it’s allowing fear to dictate our choices and limit our potential.
Path for Change
Shifting your relationship with failure begins with reframing what it means. Instead of seeing failure as a defining moment, view it as data—a source of information that helps refine your approach. I’m sure at one time or another someone has asked you “What’s the worst that can happen?” or maybe you keep hearing “fail forward” from your change management experts. Both approaches encourage you to move from seeing failure as a forgone conclusion to a necessary ingredient for growth. "How does the thought of failure influence your choices and behaviors?" asks you to go deeper – to get uncomfortable to understand your belief system, behaviours and action in a whole new way.
Influencing Decision-Making
When you allow the fear of failure to overtake the ability for rational thought, decision-making becomes more about avoiding loss than pursuing opportunity. This defensive mindset limits creativity and restricts problem-solving. A thought exercises my clients have found success in when trying to navigate complex decisions is the 10-10-10 rule (Thanks to author and speaker Suzy Welch.). You ask yourself how will this decision feel in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years? This approach encourages you to accept that although a decision may result in temporary setbacks and may feel difficult, if it aligns with long-term success, it’s likely the right choice.
Our fear of failure is a natural and unavoidable human response. You need to learn to manage it so that you behave and make choices that maximize our potential. So, how does the thought of failure influence your choices and behaviors? Does it hold you back or push you forward? How are you making yourself feel “comfortably uncomfortable”?
This week, I challenge you to take one action that you’ve been avoiding due to fear of failure. Shift your mindset—see it as an experiment, a lesson, an opportunity. Let me know what changes for you!
Until next time – Stay ignited!
Best,
Coach Stef, CEC