Why Bosses Need to Allow People to Fail

Contrary to popular belief, failure isn’t something everyone should avoid, especially for one’s career. In fact, I believe failure can help you discover points that you may not have considered before and lead you to success.

As a team leader or a manager, here are some great reasons why you should let your employees or teammates make mistakes or fail:

Helps Them Think Outside The Box

Many successful businesses today did not immediately start with success. They had to start small and do trial and error to discover what method works to succeed.

When one is allowed to fail, they will be able to look back at their mistake and use other methods or create a new one to achieve the results they need. Experimentation and innovation are a huge part of many businesses’ success.

Helps Them Adjust Their Goals

Failure allows workers to adjust their goals accordingly, especially if the methods they have used for the project did not work the first time.

For every new approach, the goals should shift accordingly. This is an important skill they need to look for in their workers because it shows how well they adapt.

Improves Their Capacity to Adapt

Failure also allows people to improve their way of adapting to any challenge that passes their way. They will be able to build a strategy around it and find a way to go forward.

Without failure, one cannot discover ways to adapt and innovate their work and keep up with the changing work environment brought by their mistakes.

Tests Their Characters

Sometimes, people change when they deal with failure. Some people change for the better and do their best to improve their work, while others change for the worse, especially if they rarely fail or cannot deal with failure well.

As a leader, you will see their characters and temperaments during this time and see how you can improve their responses. These will be teachable moments between you and your team.

Helps Them Face Up to Their Responsibilities and Mistakes

Allowing your people to fail will help them understand that they need to own up to it and find ways to deal with it if they make a mistake.

If the work environment does not permit your team to fail, they will find it hard to cope with failure once they make it and disable them from recognising their faults. Remember, each mistake is a learning opportunity.

Conclusion

As a team leader or employee, you shouldn’t be afraid to fail every once in a while. Failure makes a person grow and makes your success sweeter. It must also be seen as an opportunity because it will point to other possibilities you may not have explored before. However, as a leader, you need to make sure that you are realistic when dealing with mistakes and do your best to help your employees learn from them and avoid them in the future.

Understand what makes a boss a good leader so that your team will improve their KPI, here are some golden tips for you:
8 Ways to Gain Respect as a Young Leader
3 Things All Great Leaders Have In Common
What should you do as a new leader?

Can’t get enough of MiddleMe? You can find me sharing my thoughts here as well: 
Instagram @kallymiddleme
Twitter  (MiddleMe_net)
FaceBook (MiddleMe.net)
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/kallytay

20 Comments Add yours

    1. Kally says:

      Thank you for sharing this out!

      Like

  1. capost2k says:

    Solid advice for “helicopter parents” as well! A child too protected from failure will not have strong enough “wings” to fly when they leave the nest. ❤️&🙏, c.a.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kally says:

      That I is what I will strive never to be: a helicopter parent.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Allowing employees to fail encourages them to be more creative and take responsibility. It also makes for a more supportive workplace. Thanks for sharing this.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kally says:

      Thank you so much, Vanya. Your support means a lot.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Failures are steps towards success😊!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Kally says:

      One sentence to sum up my whole article!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Thank you very much, Kally! What another great inspiring and helpful article. Enjoy a beautiful week! xx Michael

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kally says:

      Have a great midweek, Michael. May sun always shine in your days!

      Like

  5. As a registered nurse who supervises an entire unit, I try to keep a positive and supportive environment in place. If someone screws up, I don’t make a big deal about it unless it’s something that jeopardizes the safety of the entire unit. People are human and make mistakes, including me. We just sit and talk about it. I allow people to do their jobs without micro managing everything. However, if someone is insubordinate and jeopardizes the safety of the entire unit, as I said before, I will come down on them like a ton of bricks. Usually, people just need to take a moment and gain self-awareness about what they are doing and then correct it.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kally says:

      Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us, Dawn. Your wisdom is treasured.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. maeeee06 says:

    Low lñods ñ

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Jermena says:

    As usual, great insights Kally😊
    Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kally says:

      Thank you so much, Jermena. Have a wonderful day.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Jermena says:

        A wonderful day to you too dear🤗

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Failure can indeed be a great teacher! It’s also reassuring to know that your employer not only won’t fire you for a single slip-up but will support you in getting back on your feet.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kally says:

      Good advice! Thank you so much for sharing.

      Liked by 1 person

Share Your Thoughts Here