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My old and very awesome leader/boss once told me that we as leaders need to cater to the different learning styles of our directs. Maybe they learn better through written instructions or expectations with examples, maybe they prefer a video recording to have on hand, maybe they like walking through it with you (e.g., working session). Whatever you do, I recommend you document and outline their errors offline and send it back, and have THEM (not you!!!) correct the mistakes once it comes down to the final product. Also consider how you can streamline and make the process less manual of course, so you should also be open to change. If they don't get better over time, probably best to consider moving those people out.
Can you build a better system that is less prone to user error?
I work as a software engineer, and when I design systems, thought goes into making it a seamless, fail-proof, low-maintenance process. That includes reducing user error and input.
When I was in B-School, I enjoyed Operation Management, having read on the topic years before, and one of the general ideas, is that processes are the province of management, so rather than a failure of your leadership or engagement, it is a failure of process design, that the work they are given is prone to error, and that is the part you need to fix, but without knowing the specifics of your work, it would be hard to know how to improve it, or where the fault lies.
SSE one, I don’t expect them to keep banging their head against the wall. FOP has already walked the team through the process numerous times and they are the only one failing then it’s a real issue and not a skill issue. Time to move them out- Exactly what I stated.
I have asked myself this question 1000x but what I have realized is that people are generally lazy. They will do the bare minimum or what they are used to to get the work done. Most don’t like change, or being told what to do, or trying harder. Even when we are trying to make things better for them individually and as a team.
I have beat my head against the wall for years about this. Once I realized the above, I realized why the saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink” exists.
Keep leading. The ones that care will listen. And they are the ones who deserve your attention and opportunities. The others can just continue being average and then complain how there’s no growth opportunities for them.
These are just facts 🫰🫰🫰