Do you ever make a mistake? Maybe my mistake was not using a title like:
Do you admit to making a mistake?
Or even better: Do you learn from your mistakes?
People do make mistakes. We all make mistakes.
In fact here are some of the top returns when asking google about making mistakes:
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-call-a-person-who-makes-mistakes
Jul 12, 2017 – If the mistakes are harmless and quite mundane, like dropping or spilling things, the person can be called clumsy. If the mistakesare more serious, and the result of negligence, the person is incompetent or inept.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/216157/
word-to-describe-a-person-who-has-a-lot-of-experience-in-a-specific-field
The person is suffering from ‘Kruger-Dunning effect’ which is a psychological phenomenon that someone who is incompetent overestimate their own capabilities.
Really? This was not my expectation at all.
From my thinking it is make mistakes and learn from, or make mistakes fast to test out and retest new ideas and concepts faster – Thank you Eric Ries – “The Lean Start Up”.
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
There we go. Now this is more like it. Let’s think through our lives for a moment. May we all go back to our childhood for a minute? The very first time you were in the pool or in the ocean – how well did you swim? Okay maybe you still don’t know how to swim.
The very first time you sat down and went to ride a bicycle – how did it go? After you crashed or fell down – what did you do? The point is we all make mistakes.
We then learn from our mistakes.
People we admire talk about the mistakes they have made.
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
~ Michael Jordan
The majority of the time a person has learned something from the mistakes they have made. Odds are good they will not make the same mistake again. In fact, if part of their role is to mentor or train others in their position, this lesson learned from their own mistake will be passed on to others.
It is for this reason my suggestion to a person leading an organization is when a mistake is made by an employee which is not against the law and has not harmed anyone physically or mentally to consider a good punishment for the mistake if necessary and then keep the person in the company as they have learned something special through their own experience. Of course common sense dictates this must be taken on a case by case basis.
Too often there is a knee jerk reaction – ‘Head’s will roll!’
All this does if carried out is to demoralize everyone else. Plus the actual lesson then becomes to hide mistakes or to blame others when mistakes happen – which they will.
Instead consider how the employee who made the mistake might be able to take the lead in the corrective actions necessary.
Wouldn’t this create a better outcome for all concerned?
Mitch Tublin is the CEO and Founder of Wenkroy International LLC a boutique consulting company with a main focus on Strategic Business Consulting, Training and Business Coaching. Our passion is to take people to the next level in their life and in their business.
