At Google, one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the world, employees are encouraged to experiment, trial and error, test, retest, push envelopes, fix things that aren’t broken, aggravate status quo’s, question everything, stir things up, and change the game.
Where some companies choose to play it safe and proceed with caution for fear of failure, Google is a company where, as your Grandmother may have said, has ants in its pants. If you are a Google user, you likely know they are always up to something new, and they aren’t the least bit shy about beta testing new applications anxiously awaiting feedback from users.
Compare Google’s culture to one where people are micro-managed down to every detail of every project. Talented people don’t survive in suffocating environments where they are denied the freedoms to create solutions based on their own skills, experience, imagination and creativity. Leaders who micro-manage may think they are doing their company a big favor by making sure mistakes aren’t being made, however, the fact is that they are doing much more harm than good. They fail to realize that the only way a company can grow and outsmart its competition is by hiring talented people and encouraging them to flex their creative muscles and share ideas. They don’t always see that growth is a direct result of trial and error. As Michael Jordan said many, many times, the reason he succeeded is because he failed over and over again.
Creating a growth-driven culture can be accomplished through investing in a strong leadership training program. Problem-solving and Active Listening skills (like those taught in L.E.T.) are taught which helps managers consistently get the best of the best out of their people. When employees respect and enjoy working for their bosses, they are much more productive, much less likely to make petty mistakes and they consistently bring forth their best work.
Don’t ever underestimate the talent, imagination and enthusiasm your employees can bring to your table. You’d be very surprised – all you need to do is give them the chance.