During an episode of Celebrity Masterchef earlier on this year, I came across a curious phenomenon. The head chef said to the celebrity that each plate that he/she produce should be perfect, flawless and consistently the same. It then dawned on me, is this even possible in an environment that is hot, highly pressured and loud? Having worked in probably too many organisations (I blame the recession), public, private and charities I have observed a trend, a trend that has really started to disturb me; this trend is the obsession of managers to expect their employees to be "perfect". To eliminate mistakes, to consistently produce the same winning formula, but to improve and to strive for better all of the time, but is this too much to ask? As unpredictable as humans are and a constantly changing working environment with goal posts moving, is it realistic to expect perfection everyday? Or is it more realistic to allow employees to make and learn from their mistakes so as to work in a comfortable environment?
I am no philosopher, but I don't think we can be perfect consistently and especially not in the work place. Insisting on this is unrealistic in often confined, restricted employment environments with rigid job descriptions and archaic management structures is probably not a good idea. Focusing on perfect work I believe is not only destructive, can be short sighted and highly counter productive. Insistence on perfection can increase mistakes, increase anxiety, reduce productivity, decrease motivation and overall job satisfaction.
Instead I feel that work places should endeavour to minimise and embrace mistakes. Allow employees to learn from and develop strategies to prevent mistakes harming the productivity of the organisation. A theory of organisational learning by a couple of researchers Argyris and Schon (1978), double and single loop learning suggests that organisations should try and eliminate mistakes before they happen in order for them to grow and develop effectively. In eliminating mistakes before they happen, an organisation has to learn from previous mistakes that have been made, perhaps from individuals, groups and the organisation as a whole.
So I think organisations should:
- Create an environment that is open and allows employees to make mistakes but have a forum to learn from them
- Empower staff and allow them to create new ideas and allow them to implement them
- Open communication channels to make it easier for employees to share concerns
- Make work environments less formal in order to make work less stressful
- Praise staff when needed and have development points for staff in 1-1s and appraisals
- Give employees time to absorb tasks, new environments and new ways of doing things
I think if these things are done I believe staff will naturally begin to reduce mistakes and become more productive and happy.
