What happens in your organization when an employee makes a mistake?
If you’re anything like the some of the great leaders I speak with, you offer support and focus on the future. But that’s not always the case.
When we feel responsible for an organization, and we’re confronted with the consequences of a mistake of an employee, we are quick to react with judgment and condemnation. After all, leaders are not immune from being wrong. I wrote about this in my last post, here.
Peter Bregman, author of Leading with Emotional Courage (Wiley 2018), describes just such a scenario, and how it reinforces the mistake (and defensiveness). Why? When you confront an employee with a past-focused question, such as, “What were you thinking?” they become defensive, and in the retelling of the events, the mistake is embedded in the emotional center of the brain. I recently wrote about this emotional tagging, here.
Instead, great leaders focus on the future. They ask the employee about what they will do differently in the future. Asking future focused questions has numerous benefits:
- It allows the employee to acknowledge the mistake as well as the lesson learned.
- It allows the leader to guide the employee to identify any other potential flaws in their pattern of thinking.
- It builds trust: in the employee’s and leader’s competence.
Don’t Compound the Employee Mistake
While this sounds simple, we first need to learn how to manage our own emotional reactions when the employee makes a mistake. Bregman offers a few keys:
- When you experience an emotion, pause with curiosity. Take a breath.
- Ask yourself: What is your desired outcome? What would you like your next action (communication) to achieve? Be honest with yourself. Is it to discipline or punish? Correct? Guide? Teach?
- Determine the actions (verbal or otherwise) that will most likely help you achieve your desired outcome. Often, what you’ll find is a conversation about the future, not the past. Ask your employee what they plan to do in the future in similar scenarios.
Of course, these actions require a willingness to tolerate all feelings. Bregman calls this “emotional courage.” And with practice, you can strengthen yours.
What do you think? What happens in your organization when an employee makes a mistake? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me here, on LinkedIn, or give me a call: 561-582-6060.
