Naiman Labs Newsletter #11. Mistakes are good!

Hello friends! Welcome to the latest issue of the Naiman Labs newsletter! I am thrilled that you are reading it, and I hope you find plenty of helpful advice and tips here.

We all make a lot of mistakes, right?

When I was 17, my father told me one phrase that I still remember and remind myself of all the time: “the only person who never makes mistakes is the one who doesn’t do anything.”

I used to be afraid of making mistakes. That’s what they teach us in school, right? However, mistakes are good. Reflecting on them is the best way to learn, but you need to treat them right.

If you manage a team of firefighters, then mistakes cannot be made. But in the knowledge economy, people should make mistakes and learn from them. I believe that one of the key goals of every leader in knowledge work is to create a failure-safe environment.

Here are some tips for managers:

1. Help your team be resilient and shift their focus from mistakes to learning.

2. Take control of your emotions as a leader, as your feelings are contagious for the team.

3. Give your team space and time to reflect on their mistakes, and don’t act immediately.

4. Balance the mood - don’t be a beacon of happiness, but also avoid being a firing demon.

5. Be clear about what went wrong, and compare it with the expectations. Your feedback should be clear, transparent, and reasonable, with facts. You should also give your team space to provide feedback on the situation, and find the root cause of the mistake together.

6. Don’t point fingers. Feedback should be about the work, not the person.

7. Shift the mood and define a work plan together. Stop analyzing and go into action.

8. Start by sharing your own mistakes. Don’t be afraid to share screw-ups and show an example. If not you, ask someone in the team to share, but it’s better to start with you.

9. Whenever you communicate about mistakes with your team members, think about the outcome of the communication and focus on the future. Your goal is to learn from the mistake, so your prime focus is not to blame them, but to ensure that it doesn’t happen again in the future.

The same goes for team members:

1. Whenever you discuss a mistake, focus on the outcome - your outcome is always to learn from it. Think of what the biggest learning should be and what will change after the mistake.

2. Make it your mission to gain insights from the feedback and apply it to your actions.

3. Be curious. Your purpose is not to defend yourself, but to understand the other person’s truth and see their point of view.

4. Participate and discuss the mistake together. It is your job to fix it, as well as other team members’.

5. Treat yourself to something nice to switch your mood from feeling down about the mistake. Your brain needs some comfort now. What will it be? A favorite book, movie, or a quick run? Treat yourself to switch your mood and have some positive energy to fix the mistake.”

🙌 People management article of the week

Not an article today, but a great video from Dan Ariely about motivation. What makes us feel good about our work? What motivates people to do more and to go extra mile?

HR professionals can say that it is about Engagement and Total rewards (and they will be absolutely right). For me this talk is a pure joy, so take your time, get comfortable and enjoy 🎥.

​What makes us feel good about our work?​

💼 Your career tip of the week

Let’s continue our mistake-failure topic.

I suggest reading the article: https://hbr.org/2009/07/why-you-need-to-fail#:~:text=It’s all in your head,reinforces their sense of competence.

Please don’t take it as gym advice. But there are some really cool thoughts about growth mindset and raising the bar.

⚙️ Productivity tip of the week

Recently I’ve started doing regular file reviews, and it has been great. Once every two weeks, I go through two folders on my laptop: Desktop and Downloads.

Although I have my full folder structure in Documents, everything I download or save quickly goes to either Desktop or Downloads.

Over time, these two folders can become a total mess, so I find it helpful to review them twice a month. I am always surprised at how much valuable information I have saved and stored without even remembering it.

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Have a great week ahead and don't be afraid to make mistakes. The only person who doesn't make mistakes is the one who doesn't do anything.

Vlad from Naiman Labs