I had a coaching session with my mentor some time back. I followed the process but forgot to tie the conversation with the desired outcome. I was mortified, but I know that I will never repeat that mistake again.
It took me back to a Class IV dictation test. I spelt ‘separate’ as ‘seperate’ and got a 19 on 20. Never again did I spell it wrong.
Many years back, the brief was to coach a team around independent decision making. The line manager was deeply unhappy because his profit centre heads did not take even operational decisions, let alone tactical or strategic ones.
I thought that the session went well. What they did not share and what the HR told me weeks after, was that the line manager did not tolerate any mistakes.
The organisation culture revolved around affixing blame, not problem solving. So, the team had learned to kick all decisions upward and play it safe.
A learning culture needs room for failure and mistakes.
Do you give that room? Have you learned from that room?
