Do you practise Grudgeology?Posted by Nicole CoyneOn June 2, 2016

There are many positive traits, skills and abilities any good leader will have or want to acquire over their lifetime. One distinguishing quality that definitely stands out for me and that I believe separates a true leader from a “wanna be” is something I learnt from my seventh grade history teacher.

Miss Sandrock was a peach of a women, but everyone of us knew to never cross the line with her. I was never quite sure why, but it was either out of respect for her or the fear of been turned to stone by one of her stern looks.

The difference was was that she never held a grudge. So if you were called out for any transgression whilst under her watch, you knew that once she had had her say it was water under the bridge and life as you knew it went on. You even received your jelly tot quote from her at the end of the lesson.

 How refreshing it was to know that your teacher would not hold onto your mistake and at another completely unrelated occasion embarrass you by bringing it up to remind you of your erroneous ways. How liberating it was to know that you would not be judged or tainted by your error of judgement.

 As a business owner or manager do you believe that you are able to let things go and to not hold a grudge against your team members mistakes? Can you deal with a team member’s transgression and move on or do you store your teams faults and hit the replay button the minute you want the upper hand with them?

You might think its a good idea to have history on someone’s performance and behaviour. It is, but there is a time and place for this type of information. It’s important to understand that everyone is human and people make mistakes. Performance records are good to keep on file for those serious incidents when someone is continuously under performing or damaging your business and for the benefit of the business needs to be exited. However random mistakes should never be thrown into people’s faces or used as leverage against them. This type of management style will only damage your team morale and trust.

 Acknowledge it, deal with it, let it go and move on.