Not all failures are created equal

I am responding to last week’s column on tolerating failure (July 13, 2023),” says reader LK. “I founded a retail business outside Metro Manila, and I want to develop a sense of ownership in my people. When they make mistakes, I don’t want them to hide them. I want them to improve. “But my second-in-command says that if we do this, everyone will keep on making mistakes and we cannot reprove them. He gets frustrated at employees who repeat the same errors and say ‘pasensya na (please bear with me)’ but don’t correct their mistakes, which angers customers. How can we encourage employees to risk mistakes but still hold them to account?”

My reply

I tell my students that making a mistake once is fine, but not if they make exactly the same error the next time. This works because we discuss errors and how to address them openly in class.

Your employees keep on making the same mistakes, but what is the cause? Were they corrected promptly? If not, then the fault lies with their manager, who should guide them.

After being trained, if employees keep on repeating the errors, delve deeper. Do they have the skills to do the job? If not, transfer them to positions more appropriate for their skill level. Or is the job too challenging to be executed effectively all the time? Rethink how operations can be simplified to minimize mistakes. When the accountants in a family business kept making errors, sometimes costly ones, the owner decided to invest in an electronic system. Rather than entering figures on multiple documents, the accountants keyed in data just one time, rather than engaging in a lot of mindless inputting. Automation cut down 90 percent of the mistakes, making everyone happier.

The truth is, not all mistakes are created equal, so they cannot be treated in the same manner. Harvard management professor Amy Edmondson classifies reasons for failure on a continuum: from blameworthy to praiseworthy. Deviance, where one deliberately violates norms, should not be tolerated—one reason why teachers who tolerate cheating are as much to blame as their students.

Inattention is a common reason for mistakes, so several companies block social media, gaming, or sites other than what employees are supposed to focus on at work. Make sure that employees have appropriate rest breaks, but at the same time spell out for them work expectations, plus appropriate consequences for not meeting these.

For instance, not meeting reasonable deadlines that impact clients may lead to a verbal warning at first, then a written warning, then coaching—and if all else fails, dismissal.

But in most cases, mistakes are opportunities for learning. The pandemic gave rise to such situations as everyone navigated the unknown. Failing well to recover faster works here.

Take exploratory testing to check the viability of a product, a service or an operation. Scientists are used to this. Recently, I lauded my thesis advisee who honestly reported that her innovation game did not work well in the science classroom. Rather than fudging the data, we brainstormed on why it did not work as expected, which led to more interesting findings.

Let your employees tolerate risk and failure while experimenting, innovating or coping with a challenge. Keep them accountable when they deliberately violate rules, pay scant attention to job requirements or ignore feedback.

Reader suggestion

“For last week’s case, the son can do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis himself and then get consultants to do the same,” says Pacholo Garcia-Morrera. “Although ‘double gastos (the cost will double),’ it can build the son’s confidence if his results are the same as theirs. [If not, then analyze which results are more realistic.] A cheaper option is to hire [qualified college students to do the study, as part of their internship.”