How do you handle a screw up?
© Adrianna Casiano, iHeartRadio
As we all do our best to pivot and navigate this time, it’s extremely important that we as leaders feel empowered to take risks and try new things—even if some of our ideas may fail. But how do we help others feel empowered? It all starts with how we handle it when people screw up.
If you’ve read my book, you know the story of Lizzie. If you haven’t, here’s the short version:
Lizzie was my first-ever intern at Student Maid. Her internship was in HR, and even though she was very young and very inexperienced (I was too), I made the decision to put her in charge of payroll. I taught her how to use the system, and then handed it over to her. But the first time Lizzie submitted payroll, she made a huge mistake—and I mean huge. She overpaid 27 people by $40,000. Forty. Thousand. Dollars.
I found this out when a team member called me in the middle of the night because he wanted to know if he got a raise. I quickly opened my laptop and saw the error: Instead of paying people $300 or $400, Lizzie paid people for 300 or 400 hours. She used the wrong column in the system when reporting the numbers.
Freaking out is an understatement. I thought my business was ruined; that was all the money I had in my account. I wanted so badly to take control in that moment, but instead, I chose to call Lizzie. I told her what happened and asked if she had a solution. After some thought, she put together a plan, and we ended up getting the money back. It took a few days, but we recovered every penny.
Two weeks after this payroll error, it was payday again, and I had to make a choice: Do I trust Lizzie to report payroll again, or do I take it away from her and do it myself? I chose the first. Lizzie continued to report payroll for the rest of the year, and she never made another payroll error again.
I’m telling you this story because of what happens next. After her internship was over, Lizzie went on to have a career in HR. She told the payroll screw-up story and what she learned from making that mistake in every interview that she had. And now, she’s an auditor. I mean, seriously. I can’t make this up.
But here’s the thing: At the time, I had no way of understanding the ripple effect of my choice to trust Lizzie with payroll again. I could have chosen to take the task away from her after her mistake. And I believe that if I had done that, the message I would have sent her is that she wasn’t capable. What if she then decided not to pursue a career in HR? What if she began to doubt her abilities and her future? I’m not saying that Lizzie is where she is because I chose to trust her again. But I am saying that as leaders, the way we handle screw ups can impact the TRAJECTORY OF PEOPLE’S LIVES.
I’m putting that in all caps because I want you to hear it. I would shout it from the mountain tops if I could. May we always remember that the people we lead are human beings. They look up to us and hang on to our words. Can you remember a time that someone took something away from you? Can you remember a time when someone doubted your abilities so much that it affected your self-confidence? Do you remember how that made you feel? Do you remember how that influenced your own path and the decisions you made after that moment?
How we handle a screw up is always important, and it’s especially important right now. Now is the time our people need to feel empowered and trusted to try the things that haven’t been tried before. My suggestions: Let’s think before we speak, let’s choose to trust, let’s give people the chance to screw up so long as they learn from it and do it differently the next time, and let’s build people up instead of knocking them down. I know the stakes are high right now, but these are people’s lives we’re talking about. If we do it right, we can help our people feel confident and capable. Imagine what that would do for them, and in turn, for our organizations.
Big hugs,
