
Want to develop your team? Let them fail
Why would you let your team fail? Because allowing them to do so, from time to time, can ultimately have a positive impact on their long-term performance and well being. This means giving them space to solve problems and meet challenges without jumping in and seizing control every time you believe they are going off track.
Obviously, letting your team fail isn’t always wise, and there will be times when the consequence of failure is too severe, and you need to intervene. But, if you always jump in, you are behaving like an overly protective parent. The result of which is usually dependency behaviour which inhibits effective team working and development.
Interdependence is an essential condition for team working. This is focusing on problems that can only be solved by team members working together. Supporting interdependence means you, as the team’s manager, have to be ready to let go off exerting too much direct control. This is also important for helping the team feel they have the levels of autonomy they need to effectively operate – simultaneously improving their well being and performance.
When mangers do not let go, or give their team enough operational space, there are usually a few common justifications, such as:
- “I need to stay close to what they are doing as I’m the one that’s being held accountable for their performance.”
- “The only way I can be sure they will stay focused is by staying directly involved.”
- “They just don’t have enough experience yet to operate without frequent direction from me.”
These can seem reasonable in the moment when facing heavy delivery pressures, particularly to the manager, and often their boss. However, if they become default reactions they usually need to be challenged. So, some challenge questions / observations that could be offered:
- “Accountability does not mean that you shouldn’t delegate responsibility. You can give people more space and still set expectations about keeping you up-to-date with how they are doing against their objectives.”
- “Perhaps you being on their back all the time is a major reason that they lose focus on the task and their goals?”
- “How will they get more experience if you jump in and take problems from them whenever it looks like they might struggle?”
At an extreme level, constantly jumping in can be experienced as micromanagement, a tendency that ultimately leaves teams, and individuals, feeling powerless and not trusted to do their job. There is no point in telling your team they are empowered if you are not prepared to let them fail, they aren’t, and they are unlikely to try to take control when facing new challenges.