Embracing failure is the hidden key to proposal success.

Failure is an ever-present companion in our lives, especially in the world of proposal management. With win rates often hovering between 10% and 44%, our profession is intimately acquainted with the phrase “We regret to inform you…” But what if we could transform these moments of disappointment into stepping stones for success?

The Biology Behind the Disappointment

First, let’s discuss what happens when you experience a failure. Failure is a cascade of biological and psychological responses. Our brain activates areas responsible for error detection and emotional regulation, triggering a cascade of stress hormones. As a result, your blood sugar levels, your heart rate, and your blood pressure all rapidly change. You might feel nauseous, anxious, fearful, or even overwhelmed by a profound sense of dread. These physiological responses are your body’s way of gearing up to handle the perceived threat or challenge posed by the failure.

From an evolutionary standpoint, these intense reactions are both natural and essential for survival. In ancient times, failure often meant death or expulsion from the community — dire consequences by any standard. Today’s professional failures, while less life threatening, impact our reputations, self-esteem, financial well-being, and social standings — elements crucial to our psychological, physical, and social survival.

A Framework for Failure

Dr. Amy Edmonson, renowned expert in failure, suggests that failures can be categorized into three types, each presenting unique challenges and learning opportunities:

1. Basic Failures: These are the result of clear-cut mistakes or oversights, like missing a deadline or using the wrong font in your proposal. Basic failures often stem from singular errors and can usually be prevented with more careful attention to detail and adherence to known standards. They offer straightforward lessons that can be quickly integrated into future endeavors.
2. Complex Failures: These failures occur due to a confluence of factors that might include multiple basic failures, miscommunications, procedural delays, and even just bad luck. They are characterized by their multiple contributing causes and can be tricky to untangle. However, complex failures are rich in lessons about system dynamics, team interactions, and process management.
3. Intelligent Failures: These are the most constructive types of failures, arising from deliberate experiments or innovative attempts where the outcomes are uncertain. Intelligent failures provide valuable insights that couldn’t have been obtained by any other means. They push the boundaries of knowledge and capability. They create innovations and improvements. And they’re the sort of failures you should try to chase every single day.

Understanding these types of failures allows us to frame setbacks in a way that maximizes learning and minimizes future risks. Think about your last proposal rejection. Was it a basic, complex, or intelligent failure? By classifying our failures, we can tailor our responses and strategies to better manage and benefit from these experiences.

Transforming Failure into Opportunity

Before helping your team, start moving towards learning with three key steps:

1. Acknowledge and accept failure: Recognize that a setback has occurred and allow yourself to feel the associated emotions without judgment. Resist impulses to swallow this feeling; acceptance comes from nonjudgmental awareness of your emotional state. Sit with these emotions, acknowledge their impact, and understand that they are a natural response to your circumstances. Then, move on. This initial step is crucial in cultivating resilience, as it allows you to process and move past the emotional turmoil, setting the stage for constructive reflection and learning.
2. Learn from each failure: Analyze what happened and why. Whether it’s a basic mistake, a complex series of errors, or an “intelligent failure” that offers new insights, each type has something to teach us. Develop a plan to move forward, incorporating what lessons you can take from the situation. Through careful examination and thoughtful planning, you can turn each failure into a stepping stone toward success, using each setback to enrich your understanding and enhance your performance.
3. Adopt a growth mindset: View each failure as a chance to learn and adapt, shifting your approach based on these lessons. By embracing challenges and persisting in the face of setbacks, you foster resilience and flexibility. These qualities are essential for achieving long-term success and continuous improvement. After all, to err is human.

Building a Failure-Positive Team Culture

As leaders, particularly in the high-stakes world of proposals, cultivating an environment where failure is seen as a learning opportunity can transform your team’s dynamics. To do so, lead by example, foster psychological safety, encourage openness about setbacks, and emphasize the value of each learning experience. We can cultivate a more resilient, innovative, and successful proposal community by fostering an environment where failures are viewed as stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. Embracing failure doesn’t mean you have to lower your standards; it’s about raising your team’s capacity for continuous improvement. 

1. Conduct a “Failure Analysis”:
   • Schedule a team meeting within a week of receiving a rejection.
   • Analyze the feedback received, if any.
   • Identify areas for improvement in your proposal process.
2. Implement a “Lessons Learned” Database:
   • Create a shared document or database where team members can log insights from each proposal, successful or not.
   • Review this database regularly to inform future strategies.
3. Develop a “Failure Recovery Plan”:
   • Create a step-by-step protocol for the team to follow after a proposal rejection.
   • Include actions like debriefing with the client, conducting internal reviews, and planning next steps.
4. Practice “Rapid Prototyping” in Proposals:
   • Encourage team members to try new approaches in low-stakes sections of proposals.
   • Treat these as “intelligent failures” — experiments that provide valuable data regardless of outcome.
5. Implement “Failure Fridays”:
   • Dedicate time each week for team members to share a recent setback and what they learned from it to normalize failure and encourage open communication.

Reframing “We Regret to Inform You” as an Opportunity for Growth

In the world of proposal management, the phrase “We regret to inform you…” doesn’t have to signal the end of the road. Instead, it can mark the beginning of a new journey toward improvement and eventual success. By reframing our perspective on failure, implementing structured approaches to learn from our setbacks, and fostering a team culture that views failures as valuable data points, we can transform our entire approach to proposal management.

Remember, every successful proposal professional has a history of rejections behind them. Can you use yours to “fail forward,” learn rapidly, and continuously improve? Your next winning proposal might be just one “failure” away.