The Rules of Management, 3rd Edition

RULE 12

Let them make mistakes

There is an old Chinese saying that goes something like this: ‘Tell me and I’ll remember for an hour; show me and I’ll remember for a day; but let me do it and I’ll remember for ever.’ Fair enough. And if you are going to let people do it then they are going to do it badly at first. They are going to make mistakes. And you are going to let them.

If you are a parent you know the agonizing thing you go through with a 2-year-old who insists they can pour their own drink – and then proceeds to spill most of it on the table. You stand by with a cloth behind your back because you know that:

• they are going to spill it
• it is you who is going to have to mop it up
• the spilling process is important and you have to let them ...