1. Reward mistakes, sounds outrageous, ridiculous and may be unreasonable. How can you reward mistakes? The normal concept is to punish mistakes. That is why rules/ laws are there to tell the people that you have made a mistake by not following so and so rule and hence deserve punishment. The punishment is to act as a deterrent with the hope that the mistake will not be repeated in future. But unfortunately the hope remains a hope and the mistake is repeated if not by the same person then by somebody else.
2. This happens because people do not wish to talk about their mistakes and learn or to teach others from the mistake due to the fear that they will be ridiculed and punished. When a mistake is made you become human rater than the super manager you have projected yourself to be. It is the "FEAR", False Evidence Appearing Real", that prompts the persons to hide their mistakes , sweep it under the carpet or put it in a cold bag. But unfortunately the mistakes only grows bigger and keep getting repeated by other persons. Ultimately this mistake creates a crisis and leads one to do crisis management and claim the rewards that go with it ,but the damage is done and only repairs are possible. We rarely get down and ask the question as to "What led to this crisis"?, Why did we allow this crisis to develop? We only believe in doing firefighting. Why do not we concentrate on the cause that led to this crisis and not on the symptoms.
3. Why do not we try to reward mistakes? Rewarding mistakes does not mean that people should be allowed to deliberately make mistakes and claim rewards. One needs to distinguish between genuine and deliberate, intentional and habitual mistakes. The concept of rewarding mistakes applies only to genuine mistakes and the others still need to be punished. Reward the courage to report a mistake, reward the process of identifying the cause that led to this mistake , reward the process of communicating to other people about the mistakes , its causes and the remedial actions required to prevent its recurrence. It takes courage to admit a mistake. to stand in front of others and say " I made a mistake", or " I was wrong". It is the courage that you should be rewarding
. 4. Courage is about facing fear, the fear of losing face, the fear of shame, the fear of loosing importance, the fear of being ridiculed, the fear of loosing the peer group , thee fear of financial loss , career, promotion and power. Unless one is given the courage to report and admit that he has made a mistake the mistakes will keep on repeating. it is an excellent policy to say that we have an "Open door policy" and anybody can walk in and report a mistake or talk on any matter, process , product or improvements. But we should sit down and ponder whether we have given the courage to our subordinates/ colleagues to walk through the door up to you and say " I made a mistake". The corrective action starts after the mistake is reported. And it is this courage that needs to be inculcated , encouraged and rewarded. This is the basis concept of rewarding mistakes.
5. There is an Arabic saying:- " If mountain can not come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to mountain" If the workers can not speak out or report a mistake due to fear or they do not have the courage to walk through the door of your office then one should go to the workers and talk to them and give them courage to speak out. They may not feel comfortable in your air conditioned office and may not be able to speak out in such a surroundings. In their own work place and environment which they are used to, they might feel comfortable and open up to talk about their problems and difficulties, and it is here where the mistakes may occur. They may even discuss about their mistakes, suggest how they have rectified them and come out with improvements in the process and suggest safeguards to prevent their recurrence. Listen to them, discuss improvements and precautions and implement the suggestions but always make sure that you keep them informed and give due credit to the person openly. Always make sure that the decisions are given as fast as possible and if time permits then on the spot. Once workers know that you listen to them , try to solve their problems and your focus is on correction and preventing recurrence rather than punishment then they will have the courage to speak freely and will even come to your office and discuss their mistakes and problems.
6. To identify the cause keep asking the questions till you get to the cause:- (a) What we did that led to this mistake? (b) Did we miss out something? Some important step, some symptom. (c) Why did it happen? (d) Is the process or procedure correctly spelt out and followed? (e) Is the process of doing things correct and safe?
7. The important point is the emphasis on 'WE" rather than on you. After this we need to concentrate on:- (a) What we could do or avoid doing that will negate this mistake? (b) Could we add or subs tract something to make it mistake proof and not fool proof? (c) Could we do things differently? (d) How are we going to make this mistake a learning experience for self and others? (e) And lastly what all we should do so that this mistake does not happen in future?
8. Avoid asking questions as to who did what and who is to blame. Do not try to fix the blame , fix the problem or mistake so that it does not happen again. The moment you try to fix the blame you shut all doors to your open door policy. It will become just another slogan on the wall. You convey a message that one should report a mistake as he will be blame for it. You take away the courage which a person will need to report a mistake. Remember that the mistake could be due to a fault in the process, system rather than on by someone.
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