No Failure

Only "learning experiences"

“Leadership is creating the environment where people can fail safely and grow freely.” ~ Anonymous

If you hate the idea of failure, you’re not alone. But since we are human and we work with other humans, mistakes will happen, and sometimes we will fall short.

If someone on your team makes a significant mistake, don’t focus on blaming of punishing them—focus on how we can make things right. We are still holding them accountable; it will take extra effort to figure out how to fix things. But if you throw people “under the bus,” you may lose their trust in you as a leader.

Encourage your people to speak up when something isn’t working, so that the project can change course quickly to make the fix. Have regular check-ins and status updates, so that problems get caught early, rather than festering for weeks of now-lost time. Ask your people “do you have any concerns or see any potential problems?” as a prompt to get into these discussions. And trust, but verify—make sure you look at the work-in-progress on a regular basis, possibly by asking your team member to walk you through their progress-to-date.

Resist the urge to take things over and do it yourself (at least in most situations), but it’s fine to pitch in and help, to brainstorm and trouble-shoot, and to provide guidance, resources, and other help to get them back on-track.

(image source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1130303445768377&set=g.607600552937487)