Page 173 - Becoming a Successful Manager

164 BUILDING ON YOUR FOUNDATION

Minimize Your Employees’ Risks

Once again, try to visit the situation from your employees’ per-
spective by answering this question: Under what conditions would
I be reluctant to accept a responsibility given to me by my man-
ager? Write your response in your manager’s journal.
For most people, the reluctance ultimately stems from fear,
and fear can paralyze. Thus, you need to minimize fearful reac-
tions in your employees to enable them to take risks.
Give employees permission to make mistakes by telling them
to let you know if they need help, and don’t reprimand them if they
do. None of us performs perfectly or in the most effi cient manner
the fi rst time we attempt anything new. Your employees are adults
and deserve to be treated as such. Abusive language will provoke ill
feelings, which will then restrict their willingness to risk anything.
Encourage them to take chances and to try bigger ones, and
don’t make them feel guilty if a chance they took didn’t pay off.
Start with smaller, more familiar tasks to ensure success. Being
successful from the onset will give them more confi dence to con-
tinue to try new, unfamiliar activities. If employees err in the
assignment, help them understand what went wrong, and then
give them another task or project. Even a failure is a valuable expe-
rience, since it shows the employee what not to do the next time.
In short, don’t penalize employees for taking risks.
Recall how you responded when you were a child and one of
your parents asked you if you did something that you knew was
a no-no, and you were guilty. Whether or not you told the truth
probably depended on how your parent had reacted to you previ-
ously under similar circumstances. If you had previously told the
truth and were severely chastised for your actions, you learned
that the truth can hurt. On the other hand, if they appreciated the
truth even though they disapproved of the action, and they told
you so, you learned that telling the truth is the right thing to do.