Wingspan founder Cristina Castaneda shares eye-opening insights from her early years in the healthcare recruitment industry.
Failures are common in business. Our biggest triumphs and achievements are the result of the many failures—big and small—that we’ve experienced. The most successful companies and leaders in the world have experienced failure firsthand. US president Joe Biden ran for election three times before he won in 2020. Steve Jobs, with all his successes with Apple, also had numerous failures and was even fired from his own company. One cannot expect to conquer the summit without falling and getting up many times.
But have you noticed that we don’t talk about failure enough? And when we do, we often gloss over it, with the emphasis of how the story ended with success. Why is this so? Bradley Staats, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Flagler Business School and author of Never Stop Learning: Stay Relevant, Reinvent Yourself and Thrive, explains that processing failure is difficult because the embarrassment can manifest itself in many ways—even physically.
“We respond that way, and then we feel bad about responding that way, and so we try to cover it up instead of learn from it,” he said in an article by the New York Times. “We shouldn’t be ashamed of the reaction. It is natural.”
We should normalize talking about failures, no matter how embarrassing. Failures and faux pas happen to everybody—even the best of us. Why should we be ashamed? It shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of, especially if it brought a lesson or two. Here’s sharing with you a few of mine:
1. Expecting that I could change the system.
I remember joining the healthcare recruitment industry as a fresh-eyed newcomer and being taken aback by the industry’s backwardness and the lack of a system. Armed with my experience in QA and logistics, I set out to introduce new (and I thought efficient) ways of doing things in my own backyard, expecting this would create a ripple effect in the industry. (Yes, we all go through a messianic phase as twenty-somethings!)
Around me were people who were doing things traditionally—I saw them as close-minded and I abhorred their short-termism mindset. I rallied on with my own methods, which resulted in me becoming unpopular in the community. Around me were people thirty to forty years older who saw me as inexperienced, openly telling me I knew nothing about the industry. Being young, I also didn’t know how to communicate with them in a way that they’d understand where I was coming from, so my efforts were futile. It was only when I recognized my limitations—being young and a newcomer, I had very little power, authority, and influence—which helped me accept the fact that I could not change the system overnight—Clayton Christensen’s innovator’s dilemma playing out in this case, which drove me decades later to build my own company.
2. Not moving and reacting fast enough.
In the healthcare recruitment industry, we deal with governments and regulatory policies that change quickly, and admittedly there were instances when we could not keep up with the new rules.
Many times we’ve had to delay the deployment of hired healthcare workers due to non-compliance with a new test, a new document, or a new procedure that the receiving country had put in place. For example, when the UKBA points-based system was introduced, it took some time before we understood it and adjusted to it. We had become so focused on one market that we were not quick enough to diversify our client portfolio. Because of this, we lost a number of prospects who opted to take their business to another country. As a business leader, I had to anticipate and mitigate business risk before they happened. Simply put, never put all your eggs into one basket.
3. Acting like a know-it-all and being aggressive, which threatened my bosses.
Ever heard of the saying, “Make your boss look good”? I didn’t know that then—and how not knowing has gotten me into trouble many times! As a young professional, I was aggressive at work and impatient with the system. I was quite vocal in questioning my boss’s competence. Needless to say, this attitude didn’t get me anywhere.
Over time, I learned that I had a better chance of influencing my stakeholders if I practiced patience and humility. I realized that everyone—regardless of where they came from—had something to bring to the table. Because I learned to build a good relationship with seasoned experts, they were happy to share lessons from their own experience with me.
As someone who ventured into a new industry with very little experience, I’ve committed numerous boo-boos. But what’s important is after committing these faux pas, I learned my lesson and used them to thrive in the industry for the last two decades and, in the process, helping thousands of Filipino healthcare professionals get employed in UK hospitals.
Wingspan ensures that you hire the best candidates ethically and legally while promoting human capital formation and equitable economic growth in the sending and recipient countries. With our understanding of local recruitment procedures, we advise you on best practices while ensuring that your recruitment and selection process stays compliant. Contact us at info@wingspan-solution.com.