Setting a Company Culture for Dealing With Mistakes

By Tmima Grinvald

The spectrum of consequences places all possible responses to a situation on a scale. Each manager can and will react differently to the same situation. Often times, that is based on specific company policies as well as certain personal beliefs. Thus, it is not surprising that there is no specific industry-regulated protocol for handling mistakes.

However, it is important to understand that the actions that an individual company takes send a direct message to its employees. It establishes certain norms and standards within a company of what is acceptable and how managers will react to those actions.

Because of this, it is important to establish a uniform company culture for dealing with mistakes. This means bringing all the managers on the same page and creating consistency within the workforce.

Consistency is key.

Within the same company, suppose we have Manager A and Manager B.

• When an employee shows up to work half an hour late, Manager A disregards it. He does not take any action or call the employee in to discuss the unprofessionalism.
• On the other hand, when Manager B sees this, he immediately starts docking the employee’s pay.

Here you have an example of mixed signals. Now no employee is sure what the actual consequences are. They might all start showing up late because when they see that Manager A took taken no action, they believe that it is okay. When Manager B starts enforcing his own policy, the employees may become confused or annoyed.

If both managers had docked the employees pay each time they were late, the employees would have quickly realized that showing up to work late would not be tolerated.

Regulating the consequences allows employees to quickly distinguish between what behavior is acceptable and what is not. This applies for all situations and allows a company to move forward with a sense of steadiness.

Regardless of which action is taken- as each one will create a different culture- make sure that they are uniform throughout the company.

Working with a business coach may help you set acceptable behaviors and repercussions within for your particular company. If you want to create an atmosphere where your employees are engaged and professional but not afraid, it is important to have a fair policy regarding mistakes. A business coach can guide you and help create policies that will result in a good company culture.

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For more information about addressing mistakes within your company and the different actions you can take, visit our blog and the blog post, “Who Doesn’t Make Mistakes?” and “How Can You Handle Mistakes Effectively?”.

If you are looking to hire a business executive coach, look no further than The Round Well! Our coaches focus on understanding individual client needs, business environment, team intricacies, and developing results that will help you reach the goals you seek. Visit our website and blog, http://theroundwell.com, for more information pertaining to coaching and leadership development.