How to turn a mistake into an opportunity

In any company, risk is inherent in all its activities, so every resource must be used to reduce it as much as possible. And when we make a mistake, our first reaction is to try not to let anyone notice.

However, the challenges faced by companies require just the opposite: that their leaders admit their mistakes, especially in areas as demanding as innovation. Acknowledging mistakes is the greatest opportunity to learn and grow, so admitting mistakes is a very healthy behavior to strengthen a company, creating a favorable culture for creativity, granting freedom to experiment and fail, as well as to find solutions when mistakes are made.

But how can we accept that we have made mistakes? Here are some tips that will help in this task, with the aim of turning mistakes into opportunities that point to the growth of companies:

Accept responsibility

Leaders are called to take responsibility for what happens in the company, whether they are successes or mistakes. When the latter happens, there is still a tendency to disengage from the issue, when the opposite is the right thing to do.

Avoiding excuses and taking responsibility is what a leader should do. This creates a culture that accepts mistakes without establishing blame, assuming that they are part of a process.

Practice sincerity

A great ingredient to strengthen leadership is to earn the trust of others. In the work environment this is no different, so a leader must be honest and transparent.

Work teams expect their leaders to lead by example, so mixed signals are poorly evaluated. When faced with a mistake, a leader must act with sincerity, channeling the situation calmly to ward off negative interpretations and reactions.

Share your experience

You learn from your mistakes. And a lot. Therefore, when a mistake occurs, the ideal is to recognize it, evaluate what happened and the reasons that led to that situation. Then, it is key to identify what was done to solve the problem.

The possibility of preventing errors, or that they do not happen again, always exists. Dedicating time to evaluate, assume and correct them improves the processes within a company and allows leaders to share those lessons with their teams, showing them a model to follow based on learning and experience.

Promotes changes in a proactive way

Every time a mistake occurs, there is a need to generate changes so that it does not happen again.

These changes must happen quickly and efficiently. Establishing specific actions that everyone knows about, explaining how the mistakes were corrected, will strengthen the leader’s image and will allow the rest of the team to have tools to avoid making the same mistakes, enhancing the company’s development.

Consider the damage to others and give hope

When mistakes occur, we tend to worry much more about our own reality, leaving aside what happens to others, right?

In the case of the workplace, it is of utmost importance to recognize all those who may have suffered some kind of consequence as a result of a mistake, since there is also time, effort and resources invested when a project fails.

In addition to considering this level of empathy with others, it is of great value to share the learning that this type of situation generates, as well as to consider how this experience will be used in the future.

You may also like...