A wise man was once said the key to his success was “I’ve made lots of mistakes.”

And therein lies one of the keys to you becoming an even better leader. Allow yourself, and especially those around you, the latitude to make some mistakes.

The key is to learn from the mistakes. As a dealer for over 20 years I know I made a lot of mistakes and I’m sure I made some of the same ones twice. But, I’d like to think I learned something from each mistake.

Far too often when dealing with team members, leaders don’t use mistakes as a teaching moment, but as a criticism moment. It’s absolutely imperative that we learn from our mistakes and that we don’t continue to make the same ones over and over again.

As it relates to used car management why would you allow the same buyer to continue to go to the same auction sites, buy cars and 60 days later you take them back and lose money on them?

To be real, it may or may not be 100% the buyer’s fault. It may be that there’s no strategy to deal with vehicles that have a high market day’s supply and a high cost to market. In either case, there’s a consistent mistake being made that you as a leader are allowing to happen. Shame on you.

The key is to give your team enough rope to make some mistakes, but not so much that they choke themselves and your business in the process.

When people are allowed to make some mistakes, your organization becomes more innovative. Without innovation, your organization becomes stymied. (Get innovated, join a 20 Group.)

It’s very difficult to be a great mentor when you micro-manage every decision that’s made.

When you micro-manage you end up with micro-growth. Team members like working in an environment where they feel like they are allowed to grow. When they grow, you grow.

You’re making a big mistake if you don’t manage your mistakes. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs