Think of a time when you made a mistake in judgment. Maybe it was something as simple as dinging someone’s car with a shopping cart. Or maybe it was something more serious. How did it make you feel? If you’re like most people, there was some guilt involved. Now, you’re probably an upstanding citizen but let’s ask another question…did you ‘fess up to what you did?
There’s no one on the planet that’s exempt from making mistakes and this fact is especially true in business. There are basically two types of mistakes that we can make:
- Mistakes that don’t impact anyone else
- Mistakes that hurt or affect others
The first type is easy to deal with. We just have to be able to forgive ourselves for being human. As long as the mistake is minor, it will take a short while to deal with it and move on with our lives. There are no long-lasting effects and it’s soon added to the wealth of experiences that make us human. We learn from it.
The effects of the second type last much longer. Our sense of responsibility kicks in when we mess up in a way that is harmful to someone else. This is especially true if we care about that person in any way. In this situation, the only way to lay down the burden of guilt we feel is to make the situation right. If we want to have any kind of a meaningful relationship, we would have to come clean. Going back to the original example, say you ding the car door of one of your friends. It is very likely that you would feel bad about it to the point where you’d want to let them know. This would mean that you wouldn’t have to carry the weight of your mistake throughout the relationship.
This is exactly how your employee will feel. With the exception of career criminals, most employees will carry a sizable amount of guilt for stealing from you. Every day they will have to worry about getting caught and unless they are emotionless robots, that type of worry builds up. You would be doing them a favor by allowing them to tell you everything they’re involved in. They care about you and would want to be given the opportunity to make things right. Theft is about people making mistakes in judgment. Allowing them to fix those mistakes is a sign of good leadership. Let your employees tell you their truth.
