54. What “real” leadership should look like!

Hi everyone and welcome to Project Mindset, the channel for all those who know that with the right mindset, anything is possible in life. Today I have a short talk for you that I recently had the pleasure of giving locally. It was about the, I admit, relatively generic term “leadership,” but I’m absolutely certain it’s not just marketing jargon or business administration fluff, even though I’m a business graduate myself. I think there’s a whole lot of mindset-related issues behind the concept of leadership.

Why do I think this? I’ve discovered that as soon as the leadership in a company—regardless of size, whether large, small, medium, or otherwise—is poor, if the mindset is negative, then sooner or later the employees won’t feel comfortable, and I’m quite certain that the entire company simply won’t function properly and won’t be as successful. For example, I’ve also found that the more I relinquish control over decision-making, whether I’m part of the leadership team or, let’s say, a regular team member, the less happy I actually feel, even after a long workday.

Why leadership shapes everyday life

And as is often the case, work, career, and so on, can easily take up 8, 9, or even 10 hours a day. So I believe, or rather, I’m absolutely certain, that we mustn’t underestimate how important it is, not only in our personal lives—for example, we talk about mindset quite often here—but also in our professional lives, to take control of our mindset and say, “No, I don’t want to relinquish control over decision-making, I don’t want to relinquish control over shaping things, because I know perfectly well that I myself can be a leader and ensure that I feel happy and that others feel happy too.”

Okay, enough talk, now enjoy the presentation. Hey, thank you so much for having me here today. Thank you for your time. It’s about a topic that’s particularly close to my heart. Over the past few years, I’ve gained experience in large, small, and medium-sized companies, as well as my own startup, and I’ve noticed that most of the time, when something isn’t working, it’s because of leadership. I know for a fact that you have a very good leader here at ActiNet.

Experience from entrepreneurship and consulting

I’ve known Bill for a few years now. Huge respect for the fact that you’ve been in the market for so many years, trying, doing, adapting your business model until something works really well. But with today’s presentation, I also want to raise awareness that everyone is a leader in a company, a startup, a medium-sized business, whatever it may be. It’s not just about everyone always looking at one person, the CEO.

He plays a very special role. That’s beyond question, but I believe every company should be aware of this. He contributes to the company culture, how the company is managed, and how people interact. And that’s precisely what I want to talk about today. Because, you see, there are already certain ingredients, the key components of good leadership. And I’m going to share a few stories about what I’ve experienced in recent years. And perhaps we can have a brief discussion at the end.

But there are a total of ten ingredients that I’ve compiled so far. I think there are many more. But to summarize, I once worked at a large bank. My experience includes working at a consulting firm and a small start-up, as well as running my own start-up. I always noticed that if these ten things aren’t right, then problems arise. Number one, for example, is the issue of purpose, or perhaps better translated into German, the issue of clarity about what you actually do.

When the purpose of a task remains unclear

It sounds very simple now, but I was at a large German bank at the time, and I was a graduate trainee. My task was to fill Excel spreadsheets with data. A great task, really. You come straight out of university, you’re really eager to get started. And then you’re stuck filling out Excel spreadsheets. I said, okay, I’ll be in this department for six weeks. So I agreed to do it. The task involved taking the data from A and entering it into B. Another graduate trainee was there too.

We were allowed to divide it up a bit, making sure it was efficient and that we could automate as much as possible. But the interesting thing was, my boss at the time was on vacation for a few weeks, and I had to forward it to the boss’s boss, so to speak, without any comment. Just, “Here’s the Excel file. If you have any questions, please get back to me.” I had also asked beforehand, “Hey, what’s this data for? And what exactly am I doing here?” Well, the management team needs it for certain management decisions.

Continued

Okay, fine, that’s all the information I got. We filled out the data, sent it over during the holiday period, and then after two or three days, after the first time we sent something directly, we realized, damn, we’d made a mistake in the calculation. We wondered what to say now. And in a bank, the hierarchy is usually a bit different than in everyday life. So we did what probably every good trainee does first.

We didn’t do anything at first. We waited for feedback. But the calculation was obviously wrong. We didn’t get any feedback. That’s okay. We basically submitted something again the next time. And then I thought about it, and I had a suspicion, hey, maybe nobody actually looks at it, because these were really numbers that, to me, didn’t seem relevant at all. There was another small error in there. I admit it was intentional, but again, no feedback came.

And then at some point I realized, hey, I don’t think anyone’s really looking at this. Meaning, I got some kind of make-work scheme that doesn’t fulfill me at all, that actually makes me rather sad. It also makes me question whether I’m even in the right place. Am I doing the right thing? Am I using my time wisely? And when I realized that, I knew, hey, if I ever work for a company or have my own company, I definitely want that clarity.

Clarify the purpose

I want to communicate this clarity. What are you actually doing this for? Because if I can explain it personally, then it might not even be the right thing to do at that moment. That is to say, a key ingredient of leadership is definitely creating clarity, establishing a sense of purpose. Hey, because you’re doing this, I can later make better decisions with this data. So the task doesn’t fizzle out, and I end up making better decisions.

That’s why you’re doing the task. You should do the same as a team when you assign tasks to each other. Hey, I need this because… Not, I need this, period. I need this because… And you can be challenged on this point. Does it make sense, or doesn’t it? Another important ingredient is transparency. I know that as CEO of the company, you can’t always communicate everything transparently, show everything, publish all the figures. But there are certain things that absolutely make sense.

I once worked at a startup, Pintex, in Frankfurt. It was a super exciting time. We had a really cool CEO from Silicon Valley. Everything was great, well-funded, and we had some great office parties. It was a lot of fun. We all thought everything was going well. I even had virtual shares. So I felt like I was part of it. It was all pretty cool. Then one day he came into the office and said, it was around mid-April. I remember it perfectly. “Guys, we’re going to be bankrupt in two weeks.”

The consequences of a lack of transparency

I was like, okay, wow, what happened? Because before, there was absolutely no communication. Everything was always great. It had a really big impact on how I perceived the CEO, firstly, and secondly, how I worked. I’d even say that for many others, their productivity didn’t just drop to zero, it actually plummeted. They were working against the company. I found it incredibly interesting to see what can happen when you don’t communicate transparently—that individual employees not only fail to contribute to progress, but actually work against it.

Badmouthing the company in the market, badmouthing customers, and so on. That’s why transparency as a leader in a company is extremely important. You can’t always communicate everything, I completely agree. But you can be honest, hey, we might have financial problems in three months, and not announce it two weeks in advance. A third ingredient, which I learned at a consulting firm where I used to work. I know, Bilder, you were also in consulting for a long time.

A super simple topic, precise communication. What I mean is, I was in a meeting for the first time without my then Managing Director from the consulting firm. He said, “Yes, Riesa, you can handle this on your own. Come on, go ahead.” I was in a meeting, talking to the client, everything was great. And then at some point, the client asked a question I couldn’t answer at all. And as a good consultant, what do you do in a moment like that? You ask for a short break.

Continued

Hey, can I just pop around the corner for a sec? So I called my Managing Director at the time. Hey, I have this, and this is the question. What am I supposed to answer to that? And that completely threw my then-MD off. He was like, “Riesa, calm down, step by step. What happened?” I tried again. He asked the question, and we were doing this and that. It still made no sense to him. He didn’t have an answer either. Until he told me something.

Riesa, please explain it in the following format: Situation, complication, solution. What is the situation? Okay, I’m in a meeting, I’ve been talking to client XYZ about this topic. What is the complication? He asked me a question about this topic and I don’t have an answer. I also don’t know how I should answer it. But I might have an idea of ​​which direction it could go in. Now we come to the solution. Riesa, when you come to me, it would be best if you also came with a potential solution for how I could answer this.

And once I internalized this three-step process—you can break everything in life down to situation, complication, and there’s always a complication. You can be sure of that. But anyone who has grappled with the issue potentially also has a solution. And I’m 100% certain that if someone comes to Bill, “Dear Bill, this is the situation, this is the problem,” my potential solution would be—what do you think about that?—to make it much easier for them to decide what the right solution is.

Empathy in everyday work

Another important point regarding leadership is empathy. I think empathy has been used a lot in recent years. From my perspective, empathy means being able to put yourself in another person’s shoes. You try to understand their life circumstances. Where are they coming from? What’s their mood like? There are countless models you can use. This disc model is a red, aggressive, dominant guy or woman. It’s more of a blue type, more analytical.

You can definitely glean a lot from that. I always try to get a general sense of my employees or clients, or even my employees, and what kind of personality they have. Because then I can adapt. If they’re a “green” person, it means they have that sense of community, but also just that warm, welcoming quality. Before you start talking about business, you might first have to ask, “Hey, how’s your family?” and so on.

But there are also blue ones, for example; many techies are like that. There’s no need to beat around the bush. What’s the problem? Please get straight to the point. In other words, assessment is extremely important as a leader, so is empathy, understanding what kind of person they are. I have to speak to my employees differently. Everyone speaks a different language. For example, I have a system—I don’t even know if it’s an official format that can be used—but I always divide my employees into high maintenance and low maintenance staff.

Supporting people in different ways

What I mean is, for example, I had a designer back then, a great guy, I think you know him, a really interesting guy. I had to coordinate with him five times a day, always over coffee, everything was fine, but he was performing. He needed that, though, just that level of coordination. Then there was my CTO, low maintenance, who was replaced once a week—that’s the standard procedure—and he’d take off running, and I’d take off running. And during the week, I didn’t want to be bothered with him at all, unless it involved something to drink.

If I had approached him five times a day, saying things like, “Hey, let’s grab a coffee,” he would have said, “Riesal, please leave me alone, I have to work here.” This means I also have to decide for myself: is this a high-maintenance person or a low-maintenance person? There’s no real difference; I’m not saying one is better than the other. I simply have to pay attention to how this person prefers to work. And I have to adapt to that if I want them to perform well.

Gratitude in a professional context

Another super important thing, you know, I come from the field of mindset, and within that mindset topic, especially in the business world, I define gratitude a bit differently than in the private sphere. In business, by gratitude, I mean that when someone has done a good job, you should thank them for it. We take far too much for granted at work. “Yes, it’s your job, you’re paid for it.” But wait a minute, this is a top-notch person; they could work somewhere else, and maybe they’d be more appreciative there.

Continued

Back when I was still at the bank, I had someone who was a real firefighter. Whenever problems arose on a project, he’d step in and turn everything around, and people really respected him. I was even allowed to work with him on a project once. I prepared something really important for him, which he then had to present to his superiors. And what he did—I was allowed to be at the meeting, too—he said that in the first five minutes of the meeting, because things were really fast-paced back then, he used 30 seconds to say to everyone, “Thanks to Reza, we’ve gathered this and that information.”

He made sure it was written down properly, and so on and so forth. It was balm to my soul, of course. I mean, in front of everyone, he probably wanted to manipulate me, in the sense that I would then put even more effort into the project. But it worked. Expressing gratitude in front of everyone is, let’s say, like a kind of ennoblement. That’s why we mustn’t forget to simply say thank you, even in a business context. Hey, thanks for doing it.

Understanding leadership as coaching

Say it in front of other people sometimes. The topic of gratitude is incredibly important, I think. Then there’s another point. As a leader, you should always be in a position where you’re also, to some extent, a coach. What I mean by that is, coaching, in my view, is extremely time-consuming. So, in the daily grind, you’re saying, “I’ll take another hour for this person and explain to them how, for example, they should react in certain situations, how they should make decisions.”

The good thing is that when you pass on knowledge, you can scale it. This means it’s not about teaching someone something, but rather about knowing how to perform a task or make a decision better, and I myself can hardly scale. But what I can do is, through coaching, ensure that my employees or colleagues make similarly good decisions, and that’s how I achieve scalability..

That’s why you should, and I actually still do this today, even if it’s a student trainee working for me. I sometimes go with him during his lunch break, for example to Rewe, we get something to eat, and on the way there, which I spend the time on anyway, to get something to eat, I try to do a little mini-coaching session because I know for sure that it increases his productivity.

Developing a strong team

This allows me to scale my own efforts. And who doesn’t enjoy working with A-players? No one wants to work with B-players; everyone wants A-players on their team, and you have to make sure they are and remain A-players. Another crucial point is ownership. Point number 7. I believe it’s incredibly important—I’ve learned this through my children—to instill in someone a sense of ownership and responsibility.

What I mean is, when someone is fully responsible for a project, they react very differently, they make decisions very differently, they commit to it very differently, and they are motivated to bring the project to a successful conclusion, compared to someone who is merely a conduit of information. They don’t just observe, pick up bits and pieces, and deliver the information somewhere; they are involved, they make the decisions. Perhaps within certain parameters, of course, but they do make the decisions. And on the other hand, it’s also crucial to communicate clearly that they bear the responsibility.

If things go wrong, it’s his fault. I know that nowadays everyone tries to say no one is to blame and everything is great, everything’s running smoothly. I’m a big believer in saying that someone takes responsibility in a positive sense, and also ownership. But if things aren’t going well, then I know exactly who I need to talk to because they aren’t. For example, back when I was working at my own company, I had a new employee, and I was incredibly happy to hand over a project to him, allowing him to handle it almost entirely on his own, as far as he was able.

Discussing mistakes as learning opportunities

And then something went wrong. The customer called me, saying something had gone wrong, blah, blah, blah, and so on. And then I was able to go to the employee as usual and say, “Hey, okay, you did this and that, it went wrong, we need to sort it out.” He wasn’t, let’s say, crestfallen or anything. He was perhaps a little embarrassed that he was responsible for something and it hadn’t worked out. And I also noticed that he then put in twice, even three times the effort to make sure things ran smoothly from then on.

That means ownership, yes, great, but also accountability, responsibility. And if things aren’t working, then we need to talk about how to get them working again. A very important next point, which I’ve seen in many companies, is the issue of strategy versus focus. It’s incredibly difficult to even develop a good strategy in the first place. In my view, a good strategy is what a company stands or falls on, let’s say in the medium term. Once you’ve established that, once you’ve given it some thought, then you should stick to the strategy.

Continued

This should then be implemented, for months, half a year, or a year, however long it may take, and it should be a focus. Employees or staff must be given the opportunity to concentrate on one thing at a time, prioritizing it. Because in my experience—I’ve seen companies where, after three months, you implement a different strategy or revisit a different topic—there might be a business reason behind it, and that can happen once or twice, but if the strategy is changed regularly, I would start to wonder, okay, do we have a problem with our strategy development?

Because not only might we have done something wrong or incorrect for three months—which is fine, to do for a certain period—but it shouldn’t be the norm to change strategy, focus, or work content every three months. Personally, I can say that I still enjoy my work immensely, even if the topic isn’t initially very interesting, as long as I can focus on one thing. If it’s a topic I can delve into, where I become an expert, where I might even achieve expert status within the team, it feels incredibly good to be able to say, “Yes, I know my stuff.”

Combining strategy and focus

That’s the best way to do it. It also fits with the strategy. Strategy and focus are two different concepts, but strategy can be changed, though shouldn’t it be the norm to change it? Because you also want your employees to be able to contribute productively, and they can usually only do that if they’re focused on a single topic. Number nine is an extremely important topic, in my opinion. As a leader, I have to ensure that every employee can unleash their potential. It might sound like high-level jargon, but I’ll explain what it’s all about.

I think the topic of potential is relevant here. I’ve also reflected on it myself: what exactly is my potential? When can I say at the end of the day that I’ve fully utilized my potential? In other words, when can I sleep soundly at night? To be honest, I didn’t find the question that easy, because I think it also depends on the nature of my work. But what I’ve realized—and let’s move away from the generalities and get down to specifics—is that I think I’ve utilized my potential as a person, as a working person, when I’ve either applied or further developed my skills.

That’s the first important point. Utilized or expanded? If I ‘m a people person, I’ve used my people skills. If I’m a techie, sure, I’ve used my technological skills. But have I used them, or have I ensured I could expand them? Always consider the specifics of your work. For me personally, and I think this is often underestimated, it’s also about business—networking. Have I used my network, or have I expanded it?

Recognizing the limits of one’s own knowledge

I’ve realized, or rather, I know for sure, that I don’t know everything. If one thing is certain, it’s that. But most of the time, someone I know might know what I’m missing. That could be a team member, someone external, a client, or even a mentor, if I have one. And I also try to actually check if I’ve interacted with my network in any way today. Extremely important; I’m completely underestimated. We don’t live in a dog-eat-dog world where everyone is against everyone else; at the end of the day, we’re all human.

We want to have a good time together, especially in a company, especially in a team. For example, did I network with my colleagues today, whatever that may mean, tap into their knowledge, exchange ideas, perhaps share some knowledge that could help them? A third point, or a third element, from my perspective, is whether I used my tools correctly. What I mean by that is that nowadays we have the advantage of being able to say we have an app or tool for practically everything, be it project management.

These tools are truly underestimated. They can contribute incredibly to helping me move my project forward in a structured way and to distributing tasks effectively. I also ask myself every day whether I’ve used my tools well, whether I’ve used my project management tool effectively, or whether I’ve used my social media—which is also a tool, after all—effectively. Because when a day is over, I might have missed another opportunity to increase my reach.

Using tools and automation

For example, automation is another tool I consider useful. I like my tax advisors, but I want to automate as much of my communication with them as possible. I want to invest as little time as possible in processing data, relatively compactly, because it doesn’t really contribute much, if at all, to my business. So, if I was able to automate anything that day, use any tool more effectively, or simply improve my time more efficiently with tools, then I’m interested in the question: Did I automate anything that day, use any tool more effectively, or simply use tools more efficiently?

Continued

Another topic, speaking generally about resources, is: What resources do I have? As a CFO or CEO, the issue is money. Have I used the money in my bank account effectively? The same applies, for example, as a CFO or as the head of the sales department. Have I used my resources effectively—be they employees or influencers, whoever I work with? Have they contributed to the company’s progress that day? So, how do I use my resources? This is an extremely important question.

Something else that’s very important to me personally—I don’t do this every day, but I do involve my mentors in some way. I can recommend that everyone find a mentor. It doesn’t have to be a weekly exchange, but someone you feel is further along than you are, and someone you can talk to regularly, every three weeks or once a month, just casually—not just to unburden yourself, but to say, “Hey, I’ve got these three challenges.”

How would you proceed? I’m certain that if the mentor takes it seriously, then great input will always come, 100% guaranteed. That means igniting potential. If I’ve done one of these points really well, then at the end of the day I know I’ve ignited my potential. For certain people, or for certain tasks, it’s naturally easier. If I’m a technologist, if I’ve finished programming a crucial section, then of course I’ve ignited my potential as a developer.

Use your own potential

As a business graduate, it can sometimes be more difficult, I’d say, to see where I’ve applied my potential today and whether I’ve truly been able to fully utilize it. But for me, it’s always crucial at the end of the day. Have I unleashed my own potential? Have I unleashed the potential of my employees? The last point, or rather, for me personally, a somewhat elusive one—I don’t have a specific name for it—I call it leadership mindset. It sounds very general, but what I mean by it is that there’s a very good example.

I have immense respect for this person, I don’t know if you know her, Carola Rakete. She used to, or maybe she’s still doing it, rescue refugees who were trying to reach Europe by sea and were about to capsize in their boats. She rescued them and brought them to safety. That’s obviously a very honorable thing to do. Unfortunately, it’s illegal. It’s human trafficking. So she’s doing something that’s against the law, but everyone thinks, “Wait a minute, they’ll die otherwise.”

They’ll die otherwise. So, with some laws, it’s obviously difficult to deal with here, but for me, that demonstrates absolute leadership. She does the right thing where it’s actually not allowed. And there’s more; we might not have these kinds of everyday problems in this format, but there are always situations where we know perfectly well that we have to do the right thing, even if it’s not allowed right now or we can’t bring ourselves to break the law. But we all know that feeling.

Responsibility even in difficult situations

Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, even if it feels wrong at first. Sometimes, for example—and I’ve had a situation where I can draw a good comparison, also to a quote from Richard Branson, which I’ll get to in a moment—my employee messed something up in front of a client. And I should really try to make sure the client is also a bit flustered and so on, but it wouldn’t be okay at all to point the finger at the employee. I can apologize on behalf of the client, but I should never say, “Yes, it’s his fault” or “It’s her fault.” Instead, I stand by the client, say, “We’re sorry, I’m sorry that something went wrong,” but I definitely don’t say, “He’s to blame.”

So, I might say that internally in a one-on-one conversation, because regarding accountability, I tell him, “You’re to blame because, blah blah blah, we can resolve it.” But in front of other people, I try, let’s say, not to give the impression that I’m turning my back on my employee and going to the other side. I’ve experienced that often, and it’s completely unacceptable to act that way. Richard Benson also always says, “It’s not clients who come first, but, excuse me, not clients who come first, but employees who come first,” because if you treat an employee well, they will certainly treat the customer well too.

A look back at the ten ingredients

So, that was my short presentation on the topic of leadership. I hope I was able to offer some insights into the experiences I’ve gained. Nothing is set in stone, I think everyone has a different perspective, but through my experience with large and small companies, including my own, I know for sure that when leadership works in a company, the company can grow..

If it doesn’t work, then we sometimes have toxic atmospheres, the collaboration isn’t good, you feel like you’re part of the community (and the company is, in a way, a community), you just don’t feel comfortable in the community anymore, and the first thing you do when you don’t feel comfortable is look for something else, leave, abandon everyone, burn the bridges you built beforehand, and say, hey, guys, I’m out of here, but that’s precisely what shouldn’t happen.

Continued

Thank you so much for your attention. Leadership in books is always such a “kumbayar” topic for me. It all sounds positive, and I think the best leaders, those who always deal with it in a positive or “kumbayar” way, are unsuccessful. I look at Michael Jordan, the biggest jerk of all time, the most successful basketball player. Elon Musk, an incredibly toxic person around him. Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, exactly the same. They were toxic people, and you have a thing about being around them. And the only reason people were drawn to them was because they had something magical about them.

They knew I’d accept it because I know I’m on a journey into space and no one else is aware of it. Hence my question: where is the fine line one walks like this? You want to push them, you have to encourage them, and at the same time, you have to understand human psychology. How do I fan the flame, whose is brightest today? But also, with whom do I simply cut off all oxygen and say, “That was crap, this can’t go on”? And then go and do something about it.

A question about performance and leadership style

Because Michael Jordan, who destroyed players, but along the way, he weeded out the A-listers and discarded the others. Now, whether that’s right or wrong. Is there such a fine line for you in how you identify them and how you might coax out that potential, or is being toxic sometimes also the right path for you? And with what kind of people? Yes, from my perspective—and I can only really speak from my own perspective—exceptional talents like Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, and so on, who created something great, but at the same time, as you already said, were perhaps even toxic.

What I’ve noticed about these talented individuals is that they usually had someone on their team who was essentially the charismatic leader. Steve Jobs, sure, that incredibly charismatic figure, overshadows everything, but he also had Tim Cook for years. He had someone who created synergies, who managed to make Steve Jobs look really good, but who simply struck a different, better tone with the employees. Bosniak was the same, exactly. And I think every toxic leader, as you said, probably has someone who is actually responsible for good leadership.

The role of balancing personalities

I’m 100 percent sure. Phil Jackson. I believe he was the one who, for example, made people want to work with Michael Jordan in the first place. Because Michael Jordan, as you say, was a very intense person. His success certainly justifies him to some extent. But on the other hand, you need someone on the team who still provides that balance. I really can’t recommend that anyone say, “I’m going to become a toxic leader now,” because they are still exceptional talents.

So, it might happen. Maybe there are still ten such people alive who, despite how toxic they are, have still managed to get this far. But the vast majority of people, I’d say, should practice leadership in a positive sense. If you’re toxic and can’t change, then at least make sure you have a non-toxic leader on your team. A Zen master like Phil Jackson. For example. That was his name, wasn’t it? Zen master, exactly.

That’s what balance in life means to me. You have someone incredibly, ridiculously good, like Michael Jordan. Then you need someone to balance that out. You have Steve Jobs, but then you also need Tim Cook. He didn’t seem that way before, but he was a top leader within Apple for years. That’s often overlooked. And now that Steve Jobs is gone, he’s taken over the entire company. You also get the impression that the company’s image has changed a bit. Come on. Thanks. You’re welcome.

Error culture in small companies

Do we have a moment? Yes, one more question. Regarding small business owners, you said—and I agree with you now—that everyone is essentially a leader in some way. And specifically concerning how to deal with mistakes and responsibility. What does it mean in a team when, for example, someone makes a mistake—I don’t know, almost a mistake—communicating to customers, a contract against errors, or something like that? Do you think it’s more the responsibility of the person who made the mistake to say, “I’ll take full responsibility now, I’ll never do that again, I’ll do better next time.”

Or do you think it’s more the team’s responsibility to take charge, to sit down and discuss what happens next? How do we move forward? How do we avoid doing that in the future? Where do you think the focus should be, or where should the drive be strongest? One thing I know for sure today: These days, it’s a constant topic of conversation. Yes, mistakes happen, and so on. They do happen. But still, mistakes can be really annoying. So, of course, mistakes shouldn’t happen if possible.

Continued

And if, for example, I see an employee make a mistake, I tell them or explain it to them. That was the mistake, and next time it should ideally be done differently. It shouldn’t happen a second time, to be honest. Or definitely not a third time, because otherwise I get the feeling that the person is completely unsuited for the tasks they’ve been assigned. I always think that, personally, I would always try first to help the employee or colleague correct the mistake.

I would give him that chance. Once, twice. If it doesn’t work, of course, I’d let the team handle it, or I’d give it to him myself if I have the ability. But I would say that if the mistake keeps happening over and over again, then I have to consider a change of role. Then another person should take over the task. But I would definitely always give him at least one chance, or maybe even two, for the mistake to correct itself. I always compare it to my own children, too.

Enabling learning and setting boundaries

When mistakes happen, I can’t just freak out the first time and say, “What did you do?” Yes, it’s a learning phase. They need to learn, or they need to learn. The second time, I think, “Hey, I explained it to you last time.” The third time, I say, “Now it’s annoying me. Stop doing it, or give it to me, or I’ll do it.” But you should definitely give them at least one or two learning opportunities, and then try to resolve it as a team, and after that, maybe consider a role change.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.