It’s been said that the best and worst thing about having employees is that they’re people. At Rayburn, we love our people. But sometimes they make mistakes. For seasoned executives like me, this seems to happen more frequently with newer employees who are still figuring out their jobs.
Sometimes, perhaps too often, companies get rid of young people because they make fairly typical early-career mistakes. That’s a missed opportunity. When you do that, you’re really foregoing access to the dynamic capabilities and talent those same people will surely have later on, when they’ve had a chance to mature professionally.
If we pull the plug on someone’s development early in their career just because they’re still learning how to navigate the professional world, what kind of future are we forfeiting? That’s not just bad for them—it’s shortsighted for us.
The early part of anyone’s career involves fumbling around a little bit—what we call “adulting.” They’re figuring out rent, car payments, what a 401(k) actually means, and office dynamics. They don’t fully know how to be our employees yet. Remember how long it took you to learn how to do your first job? It’s no different from any other generation, despite the fact that they might be “digital natives” or have other advantages we didn’t have.
I strongly believe it’s worth investing patience, time, and training to help our young staff members be the best employees possible. It is important to create a culture that allows them to grow and learn safely and securely.
The Power of Making Mistakes Essential
However, recently, we were surprised to receive feedback that our employees think they can’t make mistakes. We didn’t intend to communicate that at all—quite the opposite, in fact. But it turns out we’d hired such a high-performing talent pool that they had incredibly high expectations of themselves, despite our messaging.
Now, part of our leadership challenge is constantly reminding people, especially younger employees, that it’s okay to make mistakes. In fact, it’s essential. We want you to learn from them. We hired you for your innovative ideas and your willingness to try new approaches. Your daily work life and advancement depends on you learning and growing.
This philosophy extends to our internship program. The beauty of an internship is that it’s basically an extended interview for both sides. Interns get real-world experience and learn what it means to work eight-to-five instead of having scattered class schedules. Internships show us what this generation values in a long-term employer while also testing and shaping potential future employees. Along the way, we park our own biases, recalibrate how we lead, and stay responsive to what matters most to this part of the workforce. That includes things like health and wellness, innovative communication, and how purpose is perceived—not just spoken.
The internship program is particularly meaningful to me because that’s how I got introduced to the cooperative world. Straight out of high school, I was a summer engineer at an electricity generation and transmission (G&T) company in Arkansas. They held a spot for me each summer throughout college, which is how I paid for my education. I didn’t get a job offer at the end (and of course, I still give that general manager a hard time about their intern program not being perfect). But it gave me invaluable experience.
Anyone who has managed an intern program will probably agree that by about three weeks in, you can already tell who’s going to make it and who won’t. This is reality I didn’t appreciate when I was an intern. About half of our interns have become full-time employees, which tells us the process works. Last year, we were so impressed with one sophomore intern that we hired her (mostly) full-time and continued paying for her education. We hadn’t done that before, but seeing her talent led us to adapt our approach. And we continue to adapt as we go.
In my last blog, I said that we believe that “success lives where experience comes together with a fresh perspective.” What better place to find that fresh perspective than your internship program? Where else will you find talent that’s still hungry and still sees the world with unfiltered curiosity?