I decided to take a refreshing swim at my town lake this afternoon. While I was swimming, I noticed that on one far end of the swimming area, the depth only went to about four feet. Being 5"9", I kept stubbing my toes while trying to swim and found I was limited to what strokes I could try. I finally reached a point where I could not touch the bottom. I decided to tread water for a while while watching a few kids stop at the point where the bottom dropped off. They kept talking how they didn't want to go past the "drop off" because they didn't feel safe in doing so. I on the other hand, was quite content swimming past the drop off and giving myself room to experiment.
In what ways are you giving your employees the courage to swim past the drop off? Do you encourage your employees to try new ideas or discourage them because of the risks involved? What tools do you give them to help mitigate the risks? What rewards do you provide for success or simply for just working through their ideas?
