7 Truths About Handling Mistakes

What do Post-It-Notes, Coca-Cola, Columbus and Liquid Paper all have in common? Mistakes.

Post-It-Notes came about because the scientist creating it didn't get the stickiness of the glue quite right, Coke was meant to be a medicinal tonic, Columbus set off for Asia and landed in America and Liquid Paper was invented, in a kitchen, by a typist who wasn't very good at typing! (Here's a useless bit of info for you -- if you were a fan of the Beatles this typist is Mike Nesmith's mother Betty)

handling mistakes

So What? Here's so what ... You will not get through your career without mistakes happening - your own mistakes or mistakes of those who report through to you. If you want to be a high performance leader, you'd best get good at handling mistakes.

Here's 7 Truths About Handling Mistakes, both as an individual and as a leader.

1. Understand Your Big Picture ...

Being a high performance leader means you will have spent time understanding the legacy you want to leave .

Because you were drawn to this particular website out of the millions of other sites on the web, law of attraction would suggest that your big picture will probably have something to do with enabling yourself (and others) to be at your (their best) and align with your (their) potential.

Using that as the guiding principle for how you lead, means that you're better equipped to handle mistakes when they happen and more likely to use some of the other tips in this article.

2. You Are Facing A Test Of Your Leadership

People want to know they can trust you no matter the situation.

Recently a client spoke about not entirely trusting her manager (David). She was contrasting him with another more senior leader (Peter) in her organization.

She said "When I make a mistake I'm never sure that David will go into bat for me. I feel he would leave me high and dry. Yet, in the same situation I know I can trust Peter to let others know he believes in my capability and this was simply an error that will be rectified by me with his full support."

This leader was saying she felt David would blame her whereas Peter would simply focus on Fix, Learn, Move on.

It is a reflection of your self-worth in how you treat mistakes (yours or others).

If you lay blame, justify, make excuses then you are operating below the line, which won't instil confidence in anyone (including yourself). Plenty of other smart, bright, successful people have made mistakes - a high self-worth person knows this.

3. When Others Make A Mistake Let Them Be Part Of The Solution

There is nothing more demoralizing and insulting than having someone tell you that your work is inadequate and then that person excludes you from rectifying the issue by simply going ahead and fixing it themselves.

Avoid the impulse to go and fix the problem yourself - which is particularly challenging if you are under deadline pressures from other quarters (eg. Clients, Senior Leadership, other Departments).

4. There Is Never Failure Only Learning

When you focus on learning from the mistake it accelerates growth. It's the losers limp if you play it so safe that you can't possibly make a mistake and learn from it. Throughout history, every great mind never got it right first time.

IBM turned down Betty Nesmith Graham - the inventor of Liquid Paper - when she offered to sell her invention to them. For 17 years she continued to sell her product from her garage. In 1979 Gillette bought Liquid Paper for $47.5 million plus royalties! IBM has a history of turning away ideas that go on to revolutionize the world.

Mistakes mean you are moving. No movement means stagnation, which eventually leads to death.

If you don't learn from the mistake - well that will lead to extinction too!

5. Criticize the Mistake, Not The Person

If you attack/criticize the person you can't truly expect anything other than frustration, resentment and hiding. You will find that next time something goes wrong it will be hidden from you.

It is rare that when someone makes a mistake that they aren't already feeling bad. You won't gain anything by rubbing salt in the wound.

You build loyalty and commitment when you don't equate mistakes with being a mistake.

6. Focus On The Fix

When mistakes happen, focus on how you are going to remedy the situation, both for the long and short term. Use a problem-solving approach that helps you to work out the causes and put in place systems and techniques that enable it to be avoided in the future.

Your focus is on fixing the process not the problem - it's a lot more efficient to teach your children to use the toilet than to change diapers the rest of their life!

7. Let Others Know

Inform the appropriate people quickly. It's best they hear from you than from others. Let them know what's happened and how you plan to fix the issue.

Don't let the reaction of others dictate how you respond. If you report to someone who is a poor role model and very much a blame type person, don't let their poor response cause you to not be a Breakthrough Leader. Take care of yourself and your people in a way that engages and energizes.

Hope this article on the truths about handling mistakes has given you a different perspective.