F53-055: What’s The Acceptable Level of Failure For Your Business?

Show Summary: Today's show is a concept I call acceptable level of failure and specifically how every company has it in nearly everything they do. This is often an area where the culture of the company is challenged or your employees or people's expectations aren't met and there's a lot of contention in this area. I've seen this both as a leader, as an employee, and as a coach or contractor. I've seen it from multiple angles. There's this acceptable level of failure that employees need to understand or be communicated to as well as bosses and managers that need to be aware of and how to communicate it. Coaches and consultants need to be able to sit in the middle of that and be able to appreciate and understand both sides of it. What is acceptable level of failure? Here are some working examples: Scenario 1: Tech support: A voice prompt that tells you the next available operator can help you in say, 53 minutes. That 53 minutes is their acceptable level of failure. They don't have people to answer every single phone call on the first ring. This falls down to your expectations as a customer not being able to meet their acceptable level of failure. Scenario 2: You work at a company and your work is never done. You go on a vacation and you come back feeling punished for leaving. Your organization has an acceptable level of failure that you accept as part of your business. It's not reasonable to expect that there's always 1-3 extra people with nothing to do for the times you're in the office to cover when you're gone. The real ownership of this is that the business owner, the manager, and a leader has to do the best possible communication to enlighten their employees or customers on expectations. If you're boss says okay with you being behind and catching up when you come back then that's okay. But when there's a disconnect between what you think your boss should be expecting of you and what your boss expects of you because of this acceptable level of failure, that's when problems happen and relationships erode and people just start hating their job. Communication is key. When you're faced with a challenge or hear someone talking about something, see if that's associated with an acceptable level of failure that's defined clearly (which I doubt) by your company or philosophically or that's just the way it's set up and handled. Make sure you address it. It doesn't mean you fix it but address their concerns. Make them aware and have them understand. Non-communication is what erodes relationships, cultures, and employees. This is a case where you do your best. You keep a great attitude and keep your effort. Make sure your boss is aware or your customers. Hopefully, they communicate with you and understand why there is some level of failure accepted in your organization. Every organization has it. They have to or else they would not make any money and you wouldn't have a job. It's their job to explain that as leaders so you don't have communication and employee issues.