In the overwhelming majority of the companies I work with, I realize that several employees are afraid of making mistakes when they are performing a task, in the face of the fear of being reprimanded (in front of colleagues or not) and even being fired from the company or, at least, will be taxed and labeled. The point is that, this fear can be paralyzing and prevent them from even trying to do what they initially intended: propose a new action, suggest a new direction or just give an idea.
Data from a survey conducted by Pulses, organizational climate solutions platform, it is pointed out that 54% of the employees who were interviewed believe that they will suffer some type of retaliation if they make mistakes in the company. The research involved the participation of over 2,000 respondents from companies of different sizes and sectors and aimed to assess the existence of psychological safety in organizations.
The data shown in the research directly supports what I am saying. And in this sense, I feel that it is the management's role to create a safe work environment in companies, where collaborators feel they can share and exchange information without judgment. I am sure that this mobilization by the leadership will positively impact the team members, that will try and – to err – more.
For this reason, I recommend adopting a management by OKRs – Objectives and Key Results, because it will allow employees to have more space and more autonomy to carry out their tasks and even to make mistakes, and this will enable better results than expected, beyond what was planned.
In this sense, if a process is well known and mastered within the company, in fact we should have little margin for error. Now, if we are trying something new, even if it is for a well-known process, the error is welcome, in a certain way, because we will get to know some ways not to do and, if we document properly, the next ones that come will not need to make the same mistakes.
So, when they are different errors, it may mean that different possibilities are being tested, what is a good sign. Do you know the 'trial and error' method? Many times, this could be the best way to generate learning for the entire team, and when using the OKRs tool, ensure that they are always working for results, with focus and clarity to achieve the desired success.
It is by making mistakes that one learns, is it really?
