After decades of business coaching, I have found that there are two “absolutes” of a top-performing team: They don’t make excuses and they don’t blame others. That is because they are not afraid of making a mistake. Strong leaders make room for failure and the opportunity to learn from it.
My wife and I have been married 39 years, and I remember in our first year of marriage we became friends with a couple of ladies in their 90’s. They were great pinochle players and they wanted to teach us the game. We played once a week, and in the second week Dorothy scolded me. She said, “You need to be more aggressive. You can’t be afraid of going set. Take a few chances!” I took her advice, and sure enough, I it wasn’t long before I experienced going “set”. (Didn’t make my bid). Dorothy was my partner, and she criticized me for being for going set. I reminded her that she had encouraged me not to be afraid of going set. She snapped back, “That’s right. Just don’t go set when you are my partner!” I recall that afterwards, I played very conservative when Dorothy was my partner. I felt like I was walking a tightrope.
Here is what this is all about: Imagine walking on one rail on a railroad track. Aside from being concerned about a train coming by, we are probably focusing all our efforts to not fall off the rail. Now picture walking on a sidewalk. We have more latitude and freedom of movement. We can play around a little, mix things up, and experiment. We are not being controlled by fear of falling off the rail.
As a leader, does your team feel like they are walking on a sidewalk, or on a rail. Give them latitude, and you can enable them to dig deeper, and use more of their talent and wit.
