Andy Murray went crashing out of the ATP World Finals at the O2 in London last week after Roger Federer suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Juan Martin Del Potro. Nothing unusual you might think, but Murray sitting at home was tweeting the word ‘help’ because he didn’t know whether he was in or out. The tennis equivalent of goal difference was required to separate him and Del Potro to determine who should go through to the semi-finals, but the officials were struggling with the maths…..and for too long confusion reigned. Not good for the competitors, the crowd, the TV audience – and least of all the tennis tournament.
The media has been reporting that the reason for the incident was a lack of confidence on the part of the officials – that they were afraid to make a mistake with the result. This is an area that affects many people in the world of work. The paradox is that getting things right and not making mistakes is critical in so many walks of life, but when this goes too far and employees are not allowed to get anything wrong a culture of fear takes hold. The net effect is that more and more members of the workforce become risk averse in order to avoid making a mistake, so creativity is driven down and thinking becomes narrowed.
In a world where entrepreneurism is now almost universally applauded (even in the public sector), a fear of making mistakes and taking risks jars with the behaviours that most employers are looking for. In fact, research shows that most successful entrepreneurs have had at least one failed business before they succeed – so in this sense failure seems like a qualification for success. But it’s a complex area because when major incidents or crises happen everyone gets a shock. Things like the Baby Peter case in the social work arena and the credit crunch in the banking world have had a major impact on employees’ willingness to take risks. Sometimes where stupid risks were taken this can be healthy, but equally it can have a residual effect that changes and narrows employee behaviour in a negative way for years to come.
We may never know whether the tennis officials last night were frozen with fear at the thought of making a mistake or whether collectively they just didn’t have the mathematical ability to solve the problem. However, what is clear is that managers need to work hard to give their employees permission to take chances to achieve great results – to support them so that they know that if a mistake is made it will be handled in a way that means no one will be irreparably damaged. The alternative is legions of employees in thousands of organisations paralysed by fear and indecision – not to mention millions of disappointed tennis fans!
As the old 19th century proverb goes, “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.”
