I have noticed a trend with employees.  As a company grows it’s the natural tendency of employees to work more and more within the corporate structure. Their job is to fit in.  Their job is to not make mistakes.

It make’s sense from the employee’s vantage point. Do what you are told, how you are told, and you will be rewarded with a predictable paycheck.  It make’s sense from the employers stand point, too.  Predictable employee behavior is manageable and scalable.  It makes sense. Until you realize it doesn’t make sense.

More structure, more compliance, means a whole lot less risk taking.  That’s the danger. Less risk means less failure, which means less innovation.  It is just a matter of time before the business becomes stagnant and the slow miserable death begins.  Unless, of course, you reward failure.

As a solo entrepreneur, you naturally rewarded failure.  You would mess up, and you wouldn’t fire yourself or reprimand yourself.  Instead you would hustle that much harder to find the right answer.

Now that you have employees, do the same. Don’t punish failure. . . in the spirit of innovation, reward it.  Give them a pat on the back, and a congratulations for (quickly) finding a way not to do it.  Then give them the kick in the butt to get back up and start hustling to find the right solution.