Let people mess up where the stakes are low, so they don’t learn it where the stakes are high.

Mistakes are how anything actually gets learned, so the only real choice is where they happen. Protect someone from every small failure and you have not saved them from failing, you have moved it to a day when it costs a lot more. Low-stakes practice is cheap and slightly uncomfortable to watch. The alternative is expensive and happens without you there.

Hand someone a task this week where the worst outcome is embarrassment rather than damage. Let them do it their way. Afterwards ask what they would change, and hold back what you saw until they have said theirs.