A culture of respect and trust begins with a commitment to hiring excellent people. Most things my team did, they did better than I could have. Little time was spent cleaning up after anybody or reversing dumb decisions. People who owned their work, both its successes and failures, knew that we had plenty of capacity to adjust to an honest mistake. On the other hand, employees who needed babysitters or a clean-up crew, didn’t last.
Treating people fairly and not punishing employees when a decision doesn’t turn out perfectly, does not mean giving poor performers leeway to make mistakes over and over. Doing that, in fact, is disrespectful to your good performers who deserve to be surrounded and supported by competence and, even better, by excellence.
Next week I’ll share a tip on how to make a great hire.
Food for Thought
- Do you accept and support employees who make honest mistakes?
- How do you distinguish between honest mistakes and poor performers?