8
OPINION
Space for failure
P arenthood, much like a career, is a lifelong learning experience. As a project manager, I see similarities between the lessons my kids teach me and the lessons to be learned in our industry. The latest lesson came when I took my 3-year-old son skiing for the first time over the holidays. We must seek out the rare opportunities for safe failure and make the most of them to help our employees reach their full potential.
Rachel Wilde
Internally, the stakes were high for me. I really wanted my son to enjoy his time on the slopes and I wanted him to succeed. While it would have been OK if he did not enjoy skiing, I would do my very best to give him the opportunity to succeed and have a good time. Following a morning of him taking lessons, I took him to lunch. Afterward, we would hit the “magic carpet” to see what he had learned. I presumed I would stand with him, walk down the slopes, and generally just be there to ensure he did not fall. Much to my surprise, when I tried getting on the magic carpet with him, he pointed to the base of the slope and told me to wait at the bottom for him. For a couple of seconds, I waited, and he firmly repeated himself. Reluctantly, I respected his wishes and nervously waited at the bottom – and he did fantastic. The second time around, he crossed his ski tips and fell. I rushed over to help him up and, again, he demanded I go back to the bottom. The next time,
he almost did the same thing but ended up catching himself. This time I was able to laugh about it, proud of my son’s rapid progression on the slopes. For the next couple of hours, he skied on his own while I watched. He enjoyed it so much that he skied until his little legs got so tired, he could hardly walk – let alone keep on skiing. In our day jobs, the ability to let go and give someone the space to stumble – and more importantly recover – can be very difficult. Many admired managers I have worked with and others who I have observed from afar, can struggle with letting their employees fail. They want to keep their employees happy, and this can impede their employees’ growth. The managers put more and more on their own plate while shielding their employees from failure. The employees then fail to learn the hard lessons that their manager once had to learn to succeed at their job. While sheltering an employee from failure may keep employees
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THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 1, 2024, ISSUE 1531
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