As you’re establishing your management style, there are many things to consider. Are you the fun boss? Are you serious, but can “shoot the breeze” with your employees as you’re warming up your Egg McMuffin in the breakroom? Are you all business all the time? Failure is one of those topics that will always be present throughout your career. Will you be the type of manager who will allow your employee to fall in order to teach them a valuable lesson or will you be the manager who coaches and walks through the steps of decisions being made? What people may not understand is both of these options take up time and you have to be certain the time has not been lost, but instead, wisely invested.
Let’s say you have an employee who wants to take a different creative direction on a project than what has been traditionally done before. If you’re hesitant because there is data supporting taking such a direction could cause a decrease in revenue, then explain the data and the resources behind the data to your employee. Help them understand that data and experience has been the foundation of the success of the department. Conversely, if there is no data supporting the proposed creative direction will fail, the direction is fairly reasonable, it will not make a significant impact on financials or the team, then why not give it a shot? But still, as a manager, you should do all you can do to help make sure the new direction and employee doesn’t fail whether that is through coaching, helping the employee navigate and overcome obstacles to the destination, or offering words of encouragement. Perhaps this new direction can open up doors to new creative approaches which then lead to increased revenue streams.
You may be tempted to let a less than stellar employee fall flat on their know-it-all face. Maybe you think this is the best way to knock this person down a peg or two. Or, better yet, right out of the entire company. Don’t let the door hit you. Right? Wrong. So wrong. You have an obligation to continue to coach that employee for the duration of their employment. You can’t stop trying to guide them to the right path just because you don’t like them or their work. Also, keep in mind how letting the employee fail might affect the team. Usually, there is some sort of collateral damage when an employee fails. Someone has to pick up the pieces or take on the extra work the failure caused. What did this do the department morale? If you were so willing to let a team member fail, will another teammate think they’re next? As much as you may want to think otherwise, when you purposely let an employee fail, you fail with them.
So while you’re making sure your employee doesn’t have that career-altering fail, how do you create an environment where an employee isn’t afraid to fail? Start with effective communication and assessment. Work through scenarios. Be supportive without micromanaging, but know when to step in. You can’t control everything. You can’t be everywhere at once. Even with the best intentions, failures will occur. Failing is a great lesson on how to stand back up and learning to try again. It’s an opportunity to gain knowledge of why the failure occurred, something they didn’t know when they set out to complete the project. Reinforce this success and the value it brings to the team.
If you’ve ever worked for a bad manager, remind yourself to be the manager you wish you had. Be. The. Manager. You. Wish. You. Had. Then, go buy some nets or some of those giant, fluffy bean bag chairs so your team has a soft place to fall.
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