Think about putting today’s quote in your employee handbook and new hire training programs.
· Imagine telling employees it’s okay to make mistakes – just be sure to acknowledge them, own up to them, learn from them, and try not to make that same mistake again.
· Imagine telling supervisors not to expect perfection – that their employees may make mistakes and you should nurture an environment where they can admit and learn from them… and that you support that.
· Imagine telling department managers to discuss mistakes at their staff meetings – and asking the employee who made one to tell what they learned from that experience.
· Imagine including a section on your performance reviews that listed mistakes, what was learned, and how an employee didn’t make that one again.
· Imagine promoting continuous learning, some of which is gleaned from the recovery from a mistake.
Leaders at all levels:
· Stop extolling employees to be perfect because perfection is the enemy of good as well as progress… and it overlooks the fact that hardly anyone does things perfectly.
· Start extolling your employees to always do their best and when things don’t work out, share it freely and learn how to be better the next time.
· Start thanking them for their good efforts as well as for owning up to the ones that are less than good… and learning from both (that's continuous learning.)
Promote accountability:
· Start in onboarding and job training by showing them you’re there to help them in good efforts and bad.
· Let them know it’s safe to tell you and that you’re there to help them be better.
Put that in your handbook and policies today.
Whitney Goodman is the radically honest psychotherapist behind the popular Instagram account @sitwithwhit and owner of the Collaborative Counseling Center, a private therapy practice in Miami.
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