As a leader, one of your objectives is to maximize the abilities of those you manage. One of the ways to accomplish this is knowing the strengths and weaknesses of those you are working with. There are different ways to accomplish this, but one way that is effective and can lead to great innovation is by encouraging employees to take risks. It is hard to fathom taking too many risks in your business, especially when the bottom line will also be affected, so the first thing that must be decided is where you can afford to take these risks. Amy Rees Anderson a Forbes contributor, angel investor, and entrepreneur offers some perspective in the value of good employee risks.
Great leaders allow their people the freedom to make mistakes. But good employees are those who when mistakes are made 1. Learn from them, 2. Own them, 3. Fix them, and 4. Put safeguards in place to ensure the same mistake will never be repeated again.
1. Learn from them: Good employees recognize that they have, in fact, made an honest mistake. They do not get defensive about it, rather they are willing to look objectively at their mistake, recognize what they did wrong, and understand why their choice or actions were the wrong thing to do.
Read more at Forbes …