I’ll never forget overhearing a conversation between a senior colleague and my mentee at the time.
The mentee was struggling with a database error, and the senior colleague simply walked up, dictated the exact command to fix it, and said, “Now run it, and you’re done.” No explanation, no context.
What did the mentee actually learn from that?
I didn’t even want to ask the obvious question: Is this the right approach? Hopefully, the answer is clear.
One of the best ways to learn is through failure. As mentors, we need to give our mentees the space, and support, to do exactly that.
Yes, a lot of things can go wrong
The example above may seem extreme, but how often does this actually happen?
A junior colleague gets stuck and can’t see a way forward, so you step in and finish the task for them, just to “speed things up.”
You’re likely juggling a lot: customer requests are piling up, deadlines are looming, and it feels faster to just do it yourself. Letting mentees handle it might take longer, and yes, things could go wrong:
- They could create additional issues, and then you’re stuck fixing them, spending more time than you anticipated.
- It could escalate to a potential incident at the company level or with your customers.
- They may overcomplicate or oversimplify the solution.
Deadlines can easily be missed.
So, what can you do about it?
While those are valid concerns and could create additional work for you or the team, they’re also a natural part of the learning process – and can often be managed effectively.
- Additional time must be spent by senior colleagues to educate junior team members – and team leaders should recognize this and allocate time accordingly.
- You should be able to evaluate whether your mentee is ready to handle delicate tasks in a high-impact environment. It’s a great place to learn, but with high stakes, they may need more guidance.
- This can be addressed by periodically reviewing their work and helping them stay on the right track.
- Assigning tasks without strict or short deadlines is another way to mitigate the risk. This doesn’t mean you should let them take months to complete a simple task. But if they’re facing something entirely new, give them the space to experiment and learn from their mistakes.
Please, don’t be a micromanager
There’s one thing you should definitely avoid when working with junior colleagues: micromanagement (trust me, I speak from experience).
I remember my manager at the time constantly looking over my shoulder, giving pointers after every action I took. It even got to the point where they’d complain about moving a graph on a report just a few pixels to the left or right.
Under those conditions, people have no freedom to be creative or make their own choices – and it creates unnecessary stress and frustration.
It’s far more gratifying to finish something on your own, even if it takes a few tries. You know you worked hard for it, and that effort brings a real sense of satisfaction and achievement.
You can benefit from failure
Most of the DBAs I know have at least one story where they messed up something big on a critical database – like locking a 24/7 m-banking table in production in the middle of the day, deleting a configuration database that the whole company uses, wiping client access privileges from a critical database, etc.
Those experiences are pretty frustrating and even traumatic – but you know what else they do? They give you a stepping stone for professional growth.
Also, fostering a no-blame culture inside the company is a great benefit. It puts the emphasis on everyone getting better and learning from those mistakes, instead of assigning blame.
Usually, all these mistakes lead to significant benefits for both junior and senior colleagues alike:
- Helps you gain hands-on experience, accelerating your learning.
- Fosters a problem-solving mindset rather than simply following instructions.
- Encourages taking initiative instead of waiting for instructions.
Nothing compares to hands-on experience
Most of us in our early years have likely attended at least one knowledge-sharing session where someone demonstrated how to do something, only for you to have no opportunity to try it on your own for a while.
A few months later, you’ve forgotten most of what you saw and find yourself asking the same questions again, which can feel frustrating.
One solution could be to take detailed notes, record the process, or rely on good documentation.
However, the most effective way to truly learn something new and gain real experience is to try it yourself, stumble through mistakes, and eventually have the process etched into your memory.
From my experience, here are the key takeaways you should keep in mind:
- Allow your mentee to take the lead on tasks and decisions, even if you foresee potential mistakes.
- Be available for guidance, but avoid micromanaging. Offer support when requested, but let them face challenges on their own.
- Foster a growth mindset by asking, “What did you learn from this?” rather than saying, “That was wrong.”