In the March 2011 edition of reVUE we ran our most popular 10 second survey to date when we asked Professional Services advisers – What’s your greatest fear or worry as an Adviser? Without delay, here are the results, remembering that each Adviser could only select ONE worry.

When setting this survey we actually expected quite different results.  Instead there is a clear theme among the top four answers, especially if I summarise those answers as…

1. Making mistakes
2. Losing a client
3. Missing a deadline
4. Missing an opportunity

The top four answers are all about “loss” – doing, or failing to do, something which results in a loss.  The Fear of Failure.  This is one of the strongest fears which can hold back even the most technically talented Adviser in any industry.

The Fear of Failure

Now psychologists and motivational speakers have worked on the Fear of Failure for a very long time and it’s unlikely we can solve this issue in this short article.  However, this survey further suggests that most Advisers should be taking some proactive steps to manage the Fear of Failure.

In particular, the Fear of Failure’s greatest impact is to “maintain the status quo”.  Fear of Failure smothers innovation, stops change and kills ambition. It wraps you up in the detail, without giving you a change to see the big picture.  It overwhelms us with worry about small symptoms, while big problems are left in the background.  So in addressing the Fear of Failure, we need to bring in counterforces which help us take a step back and see what is really going on.  Here are four practical suggestions to get you started…

Get a Mentor

The single best thing an individual Adviser can do is to have a Mentor.  It doesn’t matter if you are a first year graduate Accountant or a senior Equity Partner, most Advisers could benefit from talking to a Mentor 4-5 times per year.  This isn’t Business Coaching.  Nor does your Mentor need to be someone within your business – in fact, often the best Mentors have nothing to do with your business.

What you need is someone who can get you to ask yourself the critical questions to challenge the status quo.  Mentors don’t need to solve your problems for you – they provide a safe environment to help you solve your own problems.  I (David) have my own Mentor I meet with 3-4 times a year for a 45 minute coffee.  In those meetings I inevitably am forced to challenge my assumptions and typically come to conclusions on “worries” which are been on my mind more sometime.  Why not stop for five minutes right now and think about who could play this role for you, call them and book a coffee for the next few weeks?

Involve others in your Business

In a similar vein, every business should have outsiders “involved” at some point.  It can be formal like Business Coaches or less formal like an Advisory Board.  Client Focus Groups and Client Surveys provide a similar, less direct, role by inviting outsiders to comment on your business.  “Outsiders” can help keep the business honest and give the business the gentle (or firm) nudge it may need to push through some Fears and emerge safely on the other side. It’s those fresh set of eyes which may allow you to see things differently and address some of these Fears, rather than worry about them or become used to (subservient) to them.

Celebrate the Successes

The Fear of Failure focuses on bad outcomes.  It highlights even the smallest concern and has you playing out “What if?” scenarios in your mind.  As a result, the successes which you do have are rarely enjoyed to the same extent.  Energy and ambition can be lost to the worry of future (unrealised) events.  It is therefore critical both Advisers and businesses celebrate their successes in a very visible way.  Be it Leaderboards with completed deals, awards for milestones reached, success stories from client meetings, positive client feedback, fun employee results, quarterly “Got done!” reports, a glass of champagne when a large client is closed.  Many advisers agonise over small mistakes or opportunities lost, but rarely allow themselves to luxuriate in a good success.

This doesn’t mean you should be glossing over the problems in the business and living in denial.  It means balance – successes are just as important as failures and need EQUAL time to be appreciated.  This is often the hardest for the self-employed Adviser or Partners/Owners in a business as you feel the need to focus on the future.  But remember that you draw your energy from successes in the past, so make sure you are giving yourself enough “fuel” to keep moving forward.

Read Biographies

What’s this last one all about?  Biographies are a great source of inspiration.  Reading about how other people have addressed their fears and obtained success is like sending positive reinforcements into the battle against your Fears of Failure. Besides, it would be arrogant to think that you are the first person to deal with these fears.  You may find you resonate quite strongly with a biography and can implement the lessons learnt from it.  I remember reading Michael Palin’s (of Monty Python) Diaries a few years ago and pausing on every 5-6^th page to marvel at how similar the thoughts in his head were to mine (both of us undergoing a large career change, both small business owners, both with young families, both wondering how to turn our ideas into a successful business venture, both undertaking Directorships with other companies, etc….).