Personal coach John C. Maxwell once said, “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” His approach to making mistakes is very different than many managers’. Most supervisors don’t encourage their employees to make mistakes, because they see errors as something to be avoided at all costs.
However, Maxwell is right. Read on to learn why embracing your employees’ mistakes is one of the best things you can do as a manger.
Getting Outside the Comfort Zone
Angel investor Amy Rees Anderson points out that employees frequently make mistakes when they’re trying something new. And they’re ready to try something new when they’re outside of their comfort zone.
Being outside of your comfort zone is a good thing. It means you want to try something new and different. You’re ready to innovate. No one ever made progress by standing still. So, yes, your employees might make mistakes instead of innovating. But, at least they’ve got the courage to try something that’s never been done before.
Mistakes Can Lead to Success
Did you know that it took Albert Einstein 30 years to arrive at the theory of relativity? There were three decades of mistakes and blunders before he declared that E=mc².
Your employees don’t have to be Einstein. The point is that an error can lead to a greater discovery – one which could be profitable for the company. Your workers will never make an error if they’re afraid to, so encourage them to fail on occasion.
Mistakes Mean You’re Going Fast
Dan Levin, CEO of the file sharing software company Box, believes failure is important because it’s a sign of the business’ momentum.
“As leaders, maximum throughput, not perfection, is what we should be solving for,” Levin wrote in a post for Entrepreneur in September 2013. Today’s landscape is too competitive to slow down and worry about making mistakes. Levin would rather have his employees stumble from time to time on the road to Box’s success than have them be obsessed with perfection.
Want to Avoid Employee Mistakes?
Implementing 360 degree reviews in your business can lead to increased morale, better performance and less employee mistakes. Grapevine Evaluations solves this issue with our multi-rater feedback tool, where everyone who works with an employee will be able to provide honest feedback for him, which can reduce employee mistakes.
Let us walk you through our simple, customizable product, or take a tour on your own, and learn about updating your employee review process so that you can keep your best employees, and provide incentive to the whole team to excel.