It is hard to talk about personal failure, isn’t it? And yet, making mistakes is one of the most relatable experiences we all have in common. As humans, failure is a natural part of our learning process, however, accepting and owning our mistakes can be hard even for the most Sr. Executive.
Many of us have heard, read or experienced the multiple positive effects on employee recognition, trust and development at the workplace, and while I recognize the importance on these topics, there is a powerful one, that I find to be usually overlooked. That is the power of owning your mistakes and take them to your advantage to create a safe and trusting environment and keep growing as leader.
The biggest mistake – when making one – lyes on covering, minimizing or hiding it all together.
You will probably agree with me when I say that, the biggest mistake when making one lyes on covering, minimizing or hiding it all together, but it is even more important to be aware of the many advantages we can take from showing the world we are accountable of our mistakes and make the most of them. Here is the list of some of top benefits of taking ownership of your mistakes:
- You will keep little problems from growing into a big one. Your job is probably full of responsibilities and deadlines and let’s face it, sometimes, it is tempting to brush an error or mistake under the rug or pretend it did not happen rather than addressing it properly. In the short term, it may look like a good idea, after all, you have many other things to take care about. Everything is just perfectly fine until the day your stakeholders find out that not only something went wrong, and even worst if they find out you knew about the failure on the process and did not address it properly. Indeed, I remember that early in my career, while working as an HR Admin, responsible for creating the employee profile for our newly hired employees, I made a mistake of duplicating the record of an employee. This was very much task that needed little to no involvement from our management team. I was not new in my role and we were in the process of moving into a different system. I could have escalated this issue immediately but I knew a record duplication meant a high amount of work for our HR Systems team, therefore, I decided to say, it was probably an issue with the new system. That way, nobody would know I was to blame for the extra work. To my surprise, my manager who was very supportive took my feedback very seriously and escalated this issue to the highest person in the HR Systems department. After a substantial amount of testing, it became clearer to me, I had made a poor decision. Eventually I had to talk to my manager and share that the mistake may have been on my end. This allow the HR Systems team to stop their testing and get into the weeds of fixing my mistake anyways. I certainly learned a lot from that uncomfortable situation. As you can see, by owning your mistake, you will save yourself at a minimum an embarrassing and uncomfortable situation with your stakeholders.
- It allows you to better make decisions. While you may think that telling yourself you tried hard enough and you deserve a pat on the back, self-justification will always be one of your worst enemies. Why? Because, it distorts reality. Think about it, while you may have made a mistake by providing your superiors with an overly optimistic sales forecast prepared by yourself and your team, failing to communicate the error to your stakeholders in a timely manner or provide an alternative solution to fix the issue are still critical tasks to needed to make things work again. If you shelter yourself in a bubble to remind yourself of how hard you worked on this forecast report and how many hours of work you and your team put into it, it does not justify there was a mistake that needs to be addressed. On top of that you may start feeling more like a victim that had to work so hard to be victim of this horrible mistake instead of using this energy to take action and move forward. The most you use justifications for your mistakes, the more you will begin to create your very own universe.
- Makes you relatable. You may be a leader, but you are still a human and a brilliant and highly efficient you are, you will make a few mistakes in your career. As uncomfortable as it may be, it you can not only learn from your mistakes but use them as an example. Showing your team you are not afraid of talking about your mistakes, will not only be appreciated by many, but they will also come to know that you are comfortable with people making mistakes and asking for help in a safe environment.
- Strengthens relationships. This one goes hand to hand with the point mentioned above. By acknowledging your mistakes, your team and stakeholders will see you as an honest and humble peer or leader who values integrity. All of these are attributes that people look for in others when assessing the level of trust they give them. And, as you know, trust is the base for all harmonic long-lasting relationships.
Now, one thing is to be aware of the benefits of being accountable of your mistakes, a different thing is to know to acknowledge them and accepting them without looking foolish. Whether you are dealing with a peer a friend or managing high stakes, the steps below may be helpful in majority of the situations:
- As soon as you realize that you dropped the ball, think of a way to make it good again.
- Next, contact the impacted stakeholders. Inform them of the issue. Do not share too many details, you don’t want them to think you call them to give them a bunch of excuses, instead, keep it at a high level and present them with your proposal to fix the situation and address their concerns. This time try to go above and beyond their expectations.
- Follow up with them after the provided solution happens. This will not only ensure that they needs and expectations have been met but show that you genuinely cared for the issue and the relationship.
While going above and beyond for to fix the issue may seem like a lot of work, this is your way to show your stakeholders you are a trusting and accountable partner.
What are your thoughts on owning your mistakes? Do you know of any other valuable benefits? Let us know what you think on the comments below.