What is your greatest fear when giving team members a task they’ve not done before?

Our reader poll today asks: What is your greatest fear when giving team members a task they’ve not done before?

• They’ll mess it up and I’ll have to fix it.  20.4%
• They’ll need too much of my time and guidance. 21.3%
• They’ll get frustrated and morale will drop. 12.2%
• They’ll be wildly successful and outshine me. 3.8%
• I am fearless. This is how they learn. 42.2%

Fear versus no fear. You folks are pretty evenly split as to whether you’re afraid of your team members making mistakes and either having to fix them or invest too much time in helping them versus having no fear at all. For the former group, this is how your people learn. Start with giving less risky projects and tasks. Build extra time into timelines to allow for slower work. Focus on the fact that you’re building their skills instead of focusing too much on task perfection. For those of you with no fear, ask if you’re pushing your team members enough. Maybe the reason you’re not afraid is you’re not stretching them enough and actually taking a risk on their development. To find out if that’s the case, ask them what they’re prepared to take on. If their request makes you a little uneasy, then you know you’re operating in growth territory.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.