How Do You Handle Failure at Work?

Key points

Failure at work is inevitable, but your response is not.

Recognize your failure style: impunitive, extrapunitive, or intropunitive.

Pause before reacting and aim for a solution-focused response.

Some degree of failure is inevitable. However, people respond differently to their own failure. Do any of these three styles of response to failure sound like you?

The Impunitive Style

When faced with failure, do you tend to react with anger or hurt? Do you get defensive, deny a role in what happened, or perhaps deny that failure even occurred? Do you slant information to avoid looking guilty, or come up with a laundry list of reasons for the failure that were outside of your control? Perhaps you try being nice with the hopes that others will overlook the failure or point their f