There is a crucial yet hard-to-understand concept here. Most
people grasp the need to set priorities; they put the biggest problems at the
top, with smaller problems beneath them. There are simply too many small
problems to consider them all. So they draw a horizontal line beneath which
they will not tread, directing all their energies to those above the line. I
believe there is another approach: If we allow more people to solve problems
without permission, and if we tolerate (and don’t vilify) their mistakes, then
we enable a much larger set of problems to be addressed. When a random problem
pops up in this scenario it causes no panic because the threat of failure has
been defanged. The individual and the organization responds with its best
thinking because the organization is not frozen with fear – waiting for
approval. Mistakes will still be made – but in my experience they are fewer and
farther between – and they are caught at an earlier stage.
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