I’m worried people will discover I’ve made a mistake!
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You’ve made a mistake and are now having sleepless nights worrying about when and how people will discover what has happened – do you confess and seek absolution or keep your head buried and hope it never comes to light?
First things first, what exactly have you done? Is it an honest error? A deliberate omission? Or were you careless or distracted? Write down what has happened and why and reflect on what this has taught you. Always learn from your mistakes.
What action can you take to rectify things? Jot down all your options and evaluate the pros and cons. What seems to be the best option? If you are not sure, who can give you some honest, mature advice? Or perhaps you’ve already taken action and corrected the situation but still worry when, if, your mistake comes to light you’ll look a fool.
Whatever the situation, honesty is invariably the best policy. At the very least you should inform your manager. Tell them what’s happened, apologise, tell them what you’ve done to rectify matters and what you’ve learnt – if no lasting damage has been done others may not need to know. However, it’s possible that your actions will have ramifications you haven’t considered. That’s why coming clean with your manager is so important.
By being honest with your manager, you will earn their trust and respect – even though that may be hard to imagine at the time. By taking ownership of a problem we’ve caused we show we are mature. By resisting the desire to blame others, justify our actions or seeking to deflect criticism, we show we can be trusted when mistakes are made. Apologising shows we understand not only the impact of the error but are sensitive to any embarrassment we may have caused. Admitting our mistakes also allows us to check that any action we take to put things right is itself the right action to take.
Above all by admitting mistakes we can demonstrate what we’ve learnt. This may lead to us undertaking roles in a different way, training others to avoid the mistake we’ve made, developing safeguards or contingency plans to help reduce the impact of any future mistakes which may occur.
Sharing our mistakes may seem counter-intuitive, but an important part of being a trusted member of a team and a leader, if that’s what we aspire to, is for others to see we have the courage to admit our mistakes. Showing humility demonstrates we care when we make errors and will encourage others to do the same – especially if we’ve also learnt to be more forgiving of others’ mistakes in the process
My worst mistake was making an error with some overtime payments. I was mortified when I realised what had happened. I reversed the payments immediately, notified the employees not to spend their unexpected ‘bonus’ and ensured the money was recouped the following month. Then I went to my boss and his boss to inform them and apologise. Far from derailing my career, which I was certain I’d done, both bosses later told me it had increased their respect for me, “I now know I can absolutely trust you” said one.
TAKE AWAY
‘The man who never made a mistake never made anything’ is a great saying. Making a mistake isn’t the worst thing you can do, not learning from it is. So, be honest, own up to your mistakes, take responsibility, act to put things right, and learn from the experience. Honesty really is the best policy.
First things first, what exactly have you done? Is it an honest error? A deliberate omission? Or were you careless or distracted? Write down what has happened and why and reflect on what this has taught you. Always learn from your mistakes.
What action can you take to rectify things? Jot down all your options and evaluate the pros and cons. What seems to be the best option? If you are not sure, who can give you some honest, mature advice? Or perhaps you’ve already taken action and corrected the situation but still worry when, if, your mistake comes to light you’ll look a fool.
Whatever the situation, honesty is invariably the best policy. At the very least you should inform your manager. Tell them what’s happened, apologise, tell them what you’ve done to rectify matters and what you’ve learnt – if no lasting damage has been done others may not need to know. However, it’s possible that your actions will have ramifications you haven’t considered. That’s why coming clean with your manager is so important.
By being honest with your manager, you will earn their trust and respect – even though that may be hard to imagine at the time. By taking ownership of a problem we’ve caused we show we are mature. By resisting the desire to blame others, justify our actions or seeking to deflect criticism, we show we can be trusted when mistakes are made. Apologising shows we understand not only the impact of the error but are sensitive to any embarrassment we may have caused. Admitting our mistakes also allows us to check that any action we take to put things right is itself the right action to take.
Above all by admitting mistakes we can demonstrate what we’ve learnt. This may lead to us undertaking roles in a different way, training others to avoid the mistake we’ve made, developing safeguards or contingency plans to help reduce the impact of any future mistakes which may occur.
Sharing our mistakes may seem counter-intuitive, but an important part of being a trusted member of a team and a leader, if that’s what we aspire to, is for others to see we have the courage to admit our mistakes. Showing humility demonstrates we care when we make errors and will encourage others to do the same – especially if we’ve also learnt to be more forgiving of others’ mistakes in the process
My worst mistake was making an error with some overtime payments. I was mortified when I realised what had happened. I reversed the payments immediately, notified the employees not to spend their unexpected ‘bonus’ and ensured the money was recouped the following month. Then I went to my boss and his boss to inform them and apologise. Far from derailing my career, which I was certain I’d done, both bosses later told me it had increased their respect for me, “I now know I can absolutely trust you” said one.
TAKE AWAY
‘The man who never made a mistake never made anything’ is a great saying. Making a mistake isn’t the worst thing you can do, not learning from it is. So, be honest, own up to your mistakes, take responsibility, act to put things right, and learn from the experience. Honesty really is the best policy.