Making mistakes: who’s to blame?
Me, I hold my hands up! Perfectionism is my lifelong affliction. No matter how generous I can be about acknowledging failures in others, I hold quite a different set of standards and judgments when it comes to my own human foibles. I’m just never good enough. Ring any bells?
Fear of failing, blaming others and avoiding taking responsibility for our actions are common to us all, and even more common in our workplaces. So, as managers, what can we do about this?
Here at Namaste Culture, we advocate replacing the lifelong blaming, with lifelong learning, with a combination of personal growth, management skills training and a strategic shift towards investing resources in communication and relationship development.
According to many leadership gurus, cultures of blame are borne of an autocratic management style, refusing to take responsibility for its own shortfall in skilful communication, and fuelled by the work force’s fear of being scapegoated for collective failures. In this scenario, individuals stop taking risks, criticisms increase and productivity falls. Each individual is carving their own niche, focusing on personal targets and investing energy in avoiding pervasive blame.
One suggested antidote is the development of team solutions to organisational challenges, encouraging risk taking and understanding mistakes to be an integral part of the learning process.
Learning requires effective communication, which is where training can help managers to promote collaboration and co-operation in response to problem solving and managing mistakes.
We will be focusing on these skills on 22nd October, when we collaborate with the artist, Kirsten Lavers, who will be leading a workshop on Admitting the possibility of error at work.
To find out more look at our events page, to register contact helen@namasteculture.co.uk
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