|
No matter how many times a trainer yells, "Keep your guard up!"
it never really sinks in until the first time a boxer gets punched in the nose.
What to
do when someone under you makes a mistake? Make them pay for it?
If it's a supplier, yes. Otherwise, they never get the bloody-nose effect. And it's just
good business to demand quality. But if it's an employee, no. You
definitely want to discourage laziness and carelessness, but you also want to encourage
experimentation and risk taking. In that case, there's nothing wrong with honest mistakes,
unless you keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
You can make the most of mistakes by learning what not to do again. Scientists look at
mistakes as steps. The most valuable part of the process of
elimination. Identifying the dead ends.
But don't forget to look for the unexpected wonders mistakes are famous for. I don't think
I need to list for you all the great inventions which were nothing more than honest
mistakes that somebody noticed.
The most creative people in your organization will be the ones who make the most mistakes.
One way to encourage innovation is to allow for and even reward
error.
And if you're really serious about developing a creative culture, you might want to tell
your people, "If you're not making mistakes, you're just not trying hard
enough." |
