A thought provoking piece from Jack Lewars the Director of Operations for School of Hard Knocks - both to government policy makers and those in sport development where we claim to #transform lives' all too readily.

'Comfort with Failure'

School of Hard Knocks is a social inclusion charity which runs courses that use sport to tackle the issues surrounding unemployment, antisocial behaviour, crime and health. The charity has an expert team of coaches and mentors and is supported by a wide range of high profile individuals from within and outside sport. Its work has been documented five times by Sky Sports since 2007 and has grown into one of the most effective and high profile courses in the UK, working with some of the most hard to reach individuals in our society.

Like any social inclusion charity, we encounter a huge range of issues and barriers that lie between our participants and greater social engagement. Whilst many of these are the 'typical' issues of social inclusion, however, I have recently come across a new factor, which I have named 'comfort with failure'.

This increasingly common phenomenon manifests itself as follows: Bob turns up on the course and seems to have an excellent attitude. He says he is desperate to get his life back on track and responds well to advice. He says he is absolutely determined to become a personal trainer. When it actually comes to getting into the sector, however, he explains that a factor entirely beyond his control (usually a criminal conviction or medical issue) means he is unable to make any progress.

Sometimes, of course, this is the end of the story – Bob is genuinely hampered by something beyond his control, and the only course of action is to advise him to look elsewhere for employment. The telling moment, however, usually comes when you suggest a way round the apparently insurmountable obstacle. Suddenly, Bob becomes noticeably negative – "I tried that before"; "that agency rejected me last year"; "you have to pay to get that qualification and I can't afford it". Even as you find solutions to these subsidiary problems, new ones arise – "I have to look after my kids, so I can't attend that". It quickly becomes apparent that, despite Bob's apparent desire to change, he is equally determined to build as many barriers as possible. He is only satisfied when he has constructed a narrative where is well and truly trapped.

When I encountered my first Bob, I quickly became frustrated and even began to wonder if he was trying to take the Mickey. This particular individual wanted to be a football manager, despite having no relevant experience and making no attempt to approach the sector, and I thought he was being obtuse for his own amusement. What I realised several Bobs later, however, was that this was really a case of being comfortable with failure. By insisting that he would only work in one sector and, simultaneously, that he couldn't work in it, Bob was giving himself the perfect excuse not to change. This allowed him to maintain his situation, where he was comfortable, rather than making a genuine attempt to do something new, with its associated risks of rejection and humiliation.

In some ways, it is a touch misleading to call this 'comfort with failure', as it could equally come under 'fear of failure'. The key, however, is the distinction between the general failure of a life which is going nowhere and the specific failure of an unsuccessful attempt. Although it would be wrong to suggest that those we work with are happy with their situation, it is at least familiar. The idea of really striving for something, and the chance of being knocked back, is often far more daunting than continuing the status quo.

I am not yet sure what implications this phenomenon should have for policy-makers. In general, however, it should inform the current debate about whether unemployment can be solved by making it sufficiently uncomfortable. The government's plans to reduce benefit payments are underpinned by a belief that people will be more inclined to seek employment if the alternative is suitably unbearable. From what I have seen, however, it will take more than losing a few quid to persuade Bob to abandon his current situation, with its familiarity and his ready-made excuse. His comfort with his current failure is much more psychologically powerful than the discomfort of a squeezed income.

Jack Lewars is the Director of Operations for School of Hard Knocks

www.schoolofhardknocks.org.uk
@SOHKCharity
http://www.facebook.com/sohkcharity