Last month I commissioned my programmer to develop an update on our SEO project management system. The new changes were supposed to improve our interaction and communication with the clients. After spending several hours and implementing a test system, I immediately realized that my idea was completely wrong. It didn’t simplify anything and, in fact, if fully implemented, would have made things far worse. I had not choice but to have him pull it completely. Not to start over, mind you, but to scrap it all together.
This cost me a good sum of money… somewhere around 10-15 hours worth. Certainly I wasn’t happy, but the fault was my own. My money, my loss.
Employees make mistakes too, but it’s so much easier to let it go when the loss of time and money is your fault than when its someone else’s fault. You still need to let it go. People make mistakes. Its inevitable. Those mistakes will cost you money. That is inevitable as well. But if you want to be a good leader, a good team manager, you need to give room for those mistakes to happen.
Sure, there comes a point where too many mistakes are occurring and some serious reevaluation needs to take place, but until then give your team room to grow and screw up a little without worrying about someone coming down hard on them. A good leader will help team members recognize their mistakes, guides them into the right direction and then let’s it go so that team member has room to improve.