“Employee loyalty begins with employer loyalty. Your employees should know that if they do the job they were hired to do with a reasonable amount of competence and efficiency, you will support them.” —Harvey Mackay
Mistakes happen. As a leader, it is your response to mistakes that has the greatest impact. Your response will either set your employees up to succeed or set them up for failure. Whether intentional or unintentional, are you setting your employees up to fail?
Training
As leaders, we get busy and it is easy to think that good enough is good enough when it comes to employee training. This is a quick way to set an employee up for failure. First off, employees should have ongoing access to training. Second, determination of what type and how much training is needed should be a two-way conversation between you and the employee. And, this is not a one-time conversation. Checking in with your employees to see how they feel they are doing and in what areas they think they would benefit from additional training is a great way to help your employees succeed.
Autonomy
No one thrives in a micromanagement environment. If you do not want to set your employees up for failure, stand back and give them some autonomy. If you have provided them with the best training and they know they have your support, they should be ready to tackle tasks and challenges on their own. They are not children and they do not need you to babysit them every step of the way.
Trust
When you give employees autonomy they start to feel trusted by you to do their jobs and make decisions on their own. Trust is a two-way street. As you demonstrate that you trust your employees enough to give them autonomy and that you are willing to invest in their success by giving them the training they need, they will start to trust you as a leader. If you want them to succeed, show them that you have their backs. When you trust and support each other, everyone wins.
Opportunity
If you want your employees to succeed, you must give them the opportunity to learn and grow. No one thrives when they are stagnant. Your employees want to know that not only are there ample opportunities for them in your organization, but that you will support and encourage them to pursue these opportunities.
Set Them Up for Success
Glen Mazzara, the American television writer and producer, explained, “It’s better to grow your employees, steer them into a place that they can learn and succeed, and want to work hard and be loyal, than to have a revolving door of employees. That’s demoralizing.” No one wins when employees fail. Give them all the training they need and want. Give them autonomy over their own work. Show them that not only are you worthy of their trust, but that you trust them in return. Make sure they have ample opportunity to learn and grow within your organization. Start setting your employees up for success instead of failure.