Imagine that there’s a hole that nobody knows is there. It’s very hard to see. Somebody falls down it.
What should you do?
The best process is probably
1. Help them back out.
2. Sympathise—what bad luck!
3. Check they are OK—not hurt at all.
4. Maybe ask what they’ve learnt, if anything.
5. Thank them for discovering the hole.
6. Tell everyone else where the hole is so that nobody else falls down it.
Now, when someone makes a mistake at work, how many of the above do you do?
(I’m assuming this isn’t a deliberate mistake—they are very rare!)
A more common approach to people who make mistakes is…
1. Kick them while they’re still down in the hole.
2. Get a few other people along to jeer at them.
3. Blame them for falling down it.
4. Threaten: If they fall down another they’ll be in big trouble.
5. Don’t tell too many other people about the hole because we’ll look bad for having fallen into it.
Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash
I think you’ll agree that this is not sensible! Thus, the logical conclusion of the above is as follows…
If someone makes a mistake:
1. Help them put it right.
2. Empathise – mistakes happen (unless you never do anything, or you only do things that you find very easy and you never do anything challenging).
3. Ask what they’ve learned.
4. Do they know how to avoid repeats?
5. If not – coach them to improve hole-detection skills.
6. thank them for discovering a flaw in the system, which can now be improved for everyone.
7. Make sure that everyone else works to the new improved way – we all gain.
Onwards and upwards!
- This article originally appeared here.
- Listen to our podcasts with Chris here and here.
- Watch our ‘What I’ve Learned’ video with Chris here.