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They were created when their inventors least expected it.
These bright folks were busy attempting to create something when they lost track and fell- crashing with a heavy heart from the burden of being labeled an abject failure.
On a hindsight, after years and decades of profits and praises, the picture of total failure transformed into stunning victories.
Like Edison once famously quipped when asked about his attempts to build a light bulb, “I found 10,000 ways not to build a light bulb.”
Let’s face it, failures and botching up plans are a part and parcel of life — they all assume an indispensable part in helping workers learn and develop, as well.
Shockingly, be that as it may, employers tend to clamp down on mistakes and this, in turn, makes the employees risk-averse, shy or unwilling to learn anything new, making it impossible to bring anything new to the table.
The best organizations are those that support embarrassing defeats, encourage risk-taking characteristics of the employees while allowing them to learn from their defeat and improve.
So how do you succeed in instilling leadership qualities in your employees?
1. You lead by example
If employees are to be encouraged to learn via the hard way, it starts with the management to pave the way. Employers and managers need to be willing to try out newer, riskier ideas/solutions while encouraging their fellow colleagues to do the same, provided it helps the business.
It may sound crazy for a few of you, but a change in the present day managerial system is essential for businesses to survive should you hope to bring the employees on board.
Remember, they take cues from YOU. Take the initiative and dive in.
2. Life is more than Failures.
Encourage your workers to come up with new ideas, and should they fail- do it fast and move on. I do not imply “rapid fire” ideas, but rather work on something new that’s on a skeletal form and jump ship should things turn sideways.
For example, instead of a 50-page plan, the employee can create a basic outline of his plane and discuss it with you about its success rate and potential pitfalls, if any.
In that way, he gets to know whether that plan has any likelihood to succeed and thus allocate the resources needed to either go ahead with it, or drop it in the infant stage of development.
3. Maintain Transparency
Employees need to be assured of mutual respect. If the upper management follows transparent policies, the employees are bound to feel comfortable and resort to being more productive and efficient in their endeavors. Not only do employees feel comfortable with their work environment, but transparent policies reduce the tendency to conceal mistakes and errors. If the management is friendly, why would anyone feel the need to hide their mistakes?
Such policies set a precedent which says, “hey, it’s no big deal”, so that the employees can get off their feet, mend their mistakes and keep soldiering on.
I recommend letting the employees reach out to the other myriad departments and ca share or influence each other’s idea. With such an approach, they not only better themselves, but add coherence to the company’s vision and may even instigate potentially more awesome ideas!
Maybe you are out to discover a miracle cure or feet away from unveiling a brand new revolution in the smartphone industry, and there would be times when things go south.
Keep in mind that your workforce is a treasure trove of folks from diverse backgrounds with expertise in creativity, knowledge, and innovation.
With simple team building exercises such as occasional parties, play poker with the colleagues on a weekend bash, or bigger initiatives such as mentorship to aid your junior employees to coast through their mistakes, you can do wonders for your business.
All it takes is one little step.
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Photo: Getty Images