A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
—John C. Maxwell
Turning Mistakes into Opportunities: 3 Tips for Positive Handling
Mistakes happen! When they do it certainly does not feel good, but without mistakes, growth and innovation will be limited.
How do you react when a mistake does occur? Paul Tiberian from Oneness Consulting provides 3 tips for handling mistakes:
View the mistake as another attempt to the solution
Don’t let mistakes depress or discourage you. We must realize that depression and discouragement are negatives that limit the future. Instead let it help you to be more determined to solve the issue.
Admit the mistake
Now this takes courage, but recognition of errors is a sign of maturity. When we don’t recognize them, it is denying them. The reality is that denying the mistake only allows the mistake to take root and grow, it’s something that will limit your future.
Know that it’s only when you ignore the mistake that it is negative
When we confront mistakes, when we look it square in the eye, we can take full advantage of it as “positive” and you will benefit from the mistake.
This not only applies to the mistakes we make, but also those made by our colleagues and direct reports. We once worked with a leader that impressed on his team that he should be the first one to know when they had made a mistake.
Not to chastise them, but rather to gather the facts so he could better understand what happened and communicate the mistake as needed. He also would make sure that the person that made the mistake would have all the resources they needed to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Too often there’s a fear factor about letting “the boss” know that a mistake was made. We all make mistakes. As leaders we can encourage our team members to own them, communicate appropriately, learn from them, and make every effort to not repeat them.
Sincerely,
Mike and Jan