Episode #296: Okay Boss, Admit You Were Wrong

Litigious western societies are firmly against admitting wrongdoing. Legions of lawyers advise to admit nothing ahead of the coming court case. In business, no one sees any upside to admitting responsibilities for failure. Instead the blame shifting game gets underway, as the guilt is flung around from one person to another. Bosses blaming underlings when things go wrong has a long and glorious tradition. Japan has its own version too.

Here no one takes any personal accountability for anything, if they can avoid it. The society has devolved a brilliant scheme for group responses for decisions. If anything ever comes back to haunt the original decision makers, because it was all of us making the decision, none of us are individually responsible. Genius.

This filters down into management as well. Usually, leaders are self selecting. They have shown they are the best at their job. The best engineer, accountant, salesperson, doctor, architect, etc., gets recognised and are promoted to supervise the work of others. Japan adds a bit more spice to the equation by disconnecting ability from the process. In big organisations, everyone goes up together. At a certain point after entering the company, that cohort get promoted into leadership positions. As the pyramid gets tighter at the top, then actual selections have to be made. However for most middle management positions, age and stage are the prerequisites.

The upshot is that bosses are either ideologically unprepared to admit they made a mistake or they have so little actual ability, apart from being of a certain age, that they feel they cannot admit anything. Concern about losing face in Japan means that various fictions have to be maintained.

From a team engagement point of view none of this is helpful. It sets up the wrong tone for innovation and experimentation. Companies need innovation to outflank and outperform the competition. The problem is that the process itself has no tried and true roadmap, so it is messy and things do go wrong. In R&D labs this is not a big deal, because that world understand the need for failure in order to understand what will work. In normal business though, there are strictures around mistakes. Consequently, people keep their ideas to themselves and the company loses out on potential ideas that will give them the edge.

The boss needs to change that culture starting with themselves. Ego is a big deal everywhere and fragility of ego on the part of bosses who got promoted because they were ten years into their tenure at the company is large. This group feels the most vulnerable. Dale Carnegie’s principle number twelve says, “If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically”. This is a good idea for bosses. Staff relish the honesty and will respect the boss who can admit they were wrong.

If we are asking people to come out of their comfort zones and make changes, then we have to be supportive. Don’t wait to the end of the project, recognize progress on the way through. Principle number 27, “Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement”.

On the other side, when people make mistakes, don’t ball them out. Principle number 24 , “Talk about your own mistakes before criticising the other person” is a totally different approach. To do this though, the boss has to admit they are not a paragon of perfection, nor a mistake free zone. This is where the pressure to not admit mistakes makes it hard for bosses to create the right environment for experimentation and innovation. Creativity needs to be given the freedom to fail, but few companies can tolerate failure. Instead they look to punish the guilty parties.

“The nail that sticks up gets hammered down” is the usual formula here in Japan. Everyone learns to never raise their hand to volunteer or to raise their profile above the hoi polloi. Western bosses are amazed at the responses from staff they wish to promote. They say that they are unwilling to accept it, because they feel it is too early. This is pure risk aversion on their part. The boss has seen they have the potential, but the staff want avoid making any mistakes in the new position.

To get change the boss has to lead the change. Admitting you are not perfection personified is a good place to start. Encouraging others to be comfortable with failing, by pointing out your own fallibilities has credibility. When people make mistakes their confidence is often assaulted. Principle number 29 says, “Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct”. This is important, if we want our team to venture out of their comfort zone and do much, much more in their work.

The boss has to lead the way. Give up all pretense to perfection, embrace the messy world of change, admit it when you make mistakes and create a learning environment. The mantra for the team can be “we didn’t fail, instead we learnt what doesn’t work”. This process takes time to institute, so consistency and predictability on the bosses part are needed. Hold the course for the long term, no matter how many meltdowns may arise in the short term.