Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Don't Fire the Failures!

You own a company and an employee messed up big time. What do you do? If the first thought that comes to mind is to kick that person out, you might want to consider the message you're sending to the rest of the company. Do note the failure mentioned in this case is someone who tried and failed, not someone who did nothing for too long and ended up messing up (those should get the boot).

If you make a big deal out of failures, you will rip employees of their leadership capabilities. They will not want to attempt anything on their own account due to the fear of the consequences.

There is a story of this air pilot who, once in the air, noticed that the gas tank hadn't been filled and almost crashed. Thankfully, he was able to land the plan safely. The first thing he did once on the ground was to seek out who was responsible for filling up the tank and, instead of being mad, said "from now on, I want you to be the only one filling up my airplane."

Why did he do that? Because people who make mistakes are less likely to repeat them.
The same applies here. The person you booted now has the knowledge on how not to repeat his mistake which potentially will help the next company who hires him save millions of dollars.

He who fails the most learns the most.

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