Getting your team to believe that failure is an option or that taking prudent risks are OK is sometimes hard. Most people in a work environment are trained to believe that things need to work out correctly all the time.
If you’re trying to get your team to live into the phrase “beg forgiveness rather than ask permission” maybe you can help accelerate their adoption of this with “Beg Forgiveness Cards.”
Think of little business cards that simply say “I took a risk and it didn’t work out. I am begging for forgiveness.”
Give out 2 or 3 to your team per year as a way to signal that they have a free pass to try something they think is risky, even if it does fail. Maybe even include a line on the back like “and the thing I learned was ______.”
This shows that even when someone messes something up they can learn from it as well. After some time, you can display the collected cards for everyone to see what was learned and increase the overall risk tolerance of your group.
What other types of cards could people use at your office? What could this little piece of “permission” unlock in your organization?
