Here's how you can recognize when it's time for a HR Operations professional to seek help post failure.

An HR Operations professional should seek help post-failure when repeated issues persist despite efforts to resolve them, or when the failure significantly impacts team morale and productivity. Recognizing the need for external expertise or guidance can lead to effective solutions and improvement.

Continuous feelings of frustration, sadness, or anxiety related to the failure.Decline in Performance.Experiencing headaches, fatigue, insomnia, or other stress-related physical symptoms.Avoiding colleagues, team activities, or social interactions at work.Feeling apathetic, unmotivated, or disinterested in work tasks and responsibilities.Lack of Motivation.Constantly doubting abilities, feeling like a failure, or fearing being exposed as incompetent.Repeating similar mistakes or failures despite efforts to improve. Receiving feedback from supervisors, peers, or subordinates indicating concerns about performance or behavior.External validation of the need for support and improvement.

Recognizing when to seek help after a failure is crucial for an HR Operations professional. Here are some signs to look out for: Consistent Issues: When the same problems keep occurring despite efforts to resolve them. Overwhelming Workload: Feeling constantly overwhelmed and unable to keep up with tasks. Lack of Progress: Not seeing any improvement or progress in projects or operations. Feedback: Receiving repeated negative feedback from colleagues or supervisors. Decline in Performance: Noticing a significant drop in your own work quality or efficiency. Seeking help early can prevent bigger issues and lead to better outcomes.

This means we must recognize and admit when things have yet to go as planned. We must look at specific instances where we didn't meet our goals or our processes failed. It's all about moving past denial and recognizing that failure can be an opportunity for growth. We need to accept our mistakes and understand that it's okay to have shortcomings without placing undue blame.

Watch for signs of burnout, frustration, or discouragement in yourself or your team. These can be indicators that the failure is taking a toll and that some external support might be helpful.

It's crucial to agree on what interests us, what we want to do, and how we want to develop. If we try to be the best at everything, it won't work out, and we'll feel like failures everywhere. We might feel like we're losing everywhere and everything, even if that's not true. Knowing what we want to develop in and what we want to do should be our focus. Even if we don't always succeed, we will be motivated enough to try again and not give up.

We should not fear constructive criticism. Often, we associate it or even equate it with failure. We need to realize that it's impossible to be the best at everything. Someone who excels at programming may struggle with sales, while someone great at sales may not be as proficient with the latest technologies. That's why we need to build trust in the team —to help us when we need it most.

When it comes to improving our performance, it's important to actively seek and listen to feedback from team members. If we consistently receive similar feedback about specific issues or suggestions for improvement, it indicates that we need help in those areas. Additionally, we should pay close attention to performance reviews from supervisors and peers. If these reviews consistently point out the same areas for improvement or note repeated failures, it's a sign that we must seek assistance in addressing those issues.

Process breakdown is a time for HR professionals to evaluate the workflow. Not addressing these issues can be costly to companies and employees trust. Ongoing process improvements is vital to effective HR Operations.

Identify any breakdowns in HR processes that are hindering progress. For example, were there communication issues? Was the timeline unrealistic? Understanding the root cause of the problem will help you fix it and prevent future failures.

Failure is a very strong word and not always appropriate for things that don't go as planned. Sometimes not delivering a project on time teaches us to plan and act differently. It's not always possible to handle everything on time and according to schedules. Regarding training, before looking outside the company, I would search within for someone effective in that field who is willing to share their knowledge. This situation is a win-win-win: for me, for the person who enjoys teaching and feels good about it, and of course, for the company. The company gains two satisfied employees, not to mention the cost savings involved, which are not the most important factor in such situations.

Looking back at recent challenges and failures, we see gaps in our knowledge or skills. If we keep facing the same problems, it's a sign that we might need more training or professional development. We should always look for ways to keep improving. If we're not seeing progress despite our efforts to learn independently, consider getting guidance from a mentor or enrolling in formal training programs.

Very often, in our endeavors, we reach a certain barrier. Here, the flexibility and wisdom in management that our company and its managers possess are among the most important things. It's likely that someone in our company has encountered such a barrier before, so it's valuable to identify that person and brainstorm how to navigate such situations. Should we continue trying in other directions, or definitively change course, and how might this impact us, our team, or the company itself? However, we shouldn't fear such course changes because, as Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

In the wake of the lowest-ever response rate to an employee engagement survey, I faced a critical mission: to reverse the trend. Undeterred by the weight of criticism, I returned to the drawing board. This time, I refused to accept the conventional wisdom that response rates hinged solely on departmental leadership interactions. I engaged directly with the leaders of our largest departments, transforming the process into a spirited competition. The result? A record-breaking number of participants—the highest in our company’s history. What others labeled as an HR team failure, I recognized as a leadership misunderstanding. Our success sets a powerful precedent for future surveys, and I’m thrilled about the positive impact we’ve made!