I was in my 20s and my manager told me to stop rescuing people who were making mistakes.

She said that by saving them I was not allowing the consequences of their actions to teach them lessons they needed to learn.

I have never forgotten that lesson.

Although I do sometime struggle with…

…letting them create an overly complex incentive plan with more than three metrics and complicated formulas.

…letting them offer a lower base salary than I think the candidate is worth.

…letting them create pay inequities because the employee is a “rock star” and asked for a ridiculous pay increase that isn’t justified.

…letting them create a precedent with a pay decision that I know will be viewed as a poor decision later.

…letting them continue to add more work to an employee’s already full workload without acknowledging that something must be deleted from their To Do List.

So, today think about who you are trying to save from themselves.

You can advise. You can ask questions. You can advocate for different solutions. You can reframe the problem. You can try to change their perspective. You can influence only so much.

And then you can realize that letting them learn the lesson is a better approach.

“To rescue people from the natural consequences of their behavior is to render them powerless.” –Henry Cloud

#boundaries #letthem #lessonslearned #leadership #compensation #pay #rewards #humanresources #consequencesteachlessons