As a New Leader, Here is One Mistake You Need to Avoid Making

If you have never managed people before but want to, you have to let them make the right mistakes — and support them through it. Most times, I hear the advice of “let people make mistakes,” but this is not quite right.

“Right” mistakes allow people to grow and learn.

When I was a manager of a team of instructional designers, I did not like the plan of one of my direct reports. The customer was conservative, and she wanted to push the envelope on scenario-based videos. This was nearly double the cost of a basic training.

I told her to consider changing it. She pushed back — and I gave her the green light ONLY if she had a traditional course as a plan B and proposed both.

The client loved her idea and signed off on the additional cost.

Another time, I let someone new work from home (way before this became normal). Because I didn’t check up on people, I found out he was taking advantage of the situation and “worked” from home more and more. He wasn’t helping his team — and was actually using company time and resources to spin up a side business. It cost the team extra work, and me all kinds of administrative headaches until we departed ways — months later. There is no guarantee he’d have been a model employee if I’d stuck to our normal policy — but it may have helped.

Ask yourself “what happens if this backfires?” If life goes on, let them go — they may be onto something.

If we as leaders stifle people from trying something different just because it’s not how we would do it, we harm them and potentially our organization. It’s where innovation goes to die.

BUT we have to make sure the potential reward is worth it. Trying to present something in a new way? Give it a shot! Deploying a new architecture with an impending compliance deadline? Maybe we table that for now.

There’s a fine line between protecting people and holding them back.

There isn’t a blueprint for this — and yes, you hold people’s lives in the palm of your hand. Choose wisely — if your only reason to say no is “it’s not how I would do it,” say yes.

They may slip — catch them, stand them back up, let them try again.

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog