Is It Better to Talk Once to Someone After They Make a Mistake and Then Never Talk About It Again
10 MIN READ
How to Learn From Your Mistakes
... And Put Those Lessons Into Exercise
"A smart homo makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that error again." – Roy H. Williams (1958-), U.South. author and marketing practiced.
Think back to the last mistake that you made at work. Even if it was a minor one, similar spilling coffee on a document seconds before you were due to present it, you lot'll likely have felt a rush of panic then had the inconvenience of putting things correct.
No i is immune to making mistakes – we are human being, later on all! Just if we simply apologize and acquit on as before, nosotros're in danger of repeating the same errors.
When we don't learn from our mistakes, we inflict unnecessary stress on ourselves and on others, and we hazard losing people'south conviction and trust in united states of america. In this commodity, we look at how to ensure that we have those lessons on board, and and then use what we learn.
Run into the transcript for this video hither.
How to Stop Repeating Mistakes
Here are five steps to help you to learn from your mistakes, and to put what you notice into practice.
Note:
"Making a error" is non the same matter as "declining." A failure is the result of a wrong action, whereas a mistake unremarkably is the wrong action. And then, when you make a mistake, you can learn from information technology and fix it, whereas you tin only learn from a failure.
ane. Own Your Mistakes
You can't learn annihilation from a mistake until y'all admit that you lot've made it. So, take a deep breath and acknowledge to yours, and so take buying of it. Inform those who need to know, apologize, and tell them that you're working on a solution.
Saying "sorry" takes backbone, but it'due south far better to come clean than to hide your error or, worse, to arraign others for information technology. In the long run, people will remember your courage and integrity long later on they've forgotten the original mistake.
If, however, they hear of it from another source, your reputation will suffer and yous may not get another opportunity to acquire.
2. Reframe the Error
How you lot view your mistakes determines the style that you react to them, and what you do side by side.
Chances are, you'll view your fault in a purely negative light for as long as any initial shock and discomfort almost it persists. But, if y'all tin reframe your fault every bit an opportunity to learn, you will motivate yourself to become more knowledgeable and resilient.
When you've best-selling your mistake, think virtually what you could exercise to prevent it from happening over again. For example, if you didn't follow a process properly, consider introducing a more robust checklist or a clearer process document.
Stop beating yourself upwardly, break for a moment to reflect, and showtime thinking about how you tin gain from the situation.
Tip:
Your mindset plays a significant part in how yous view your mistakes and, importantly, in how y'all react to them.
If y'all have a "growth" mindset, you likely encounter mistakes every bit an opportunity to better, and non as something that you lot are doomed to echo considering your mindset is "stock-still" on the belief that you lot can't amend.
Yous can find out how to develop a growth mindset with our article, Dweck's Fixed and Growth Mindsets.
Notation:
A learning opportunity is non the same every bit an alibi for careless beliefs!
Rather, admitting to your mistakes and showing that you have learned from them can help others to understand that making mistakes is OK. That is, as long as you human action intelligently, in practiced religion, and keep your risk-taking inside agreed boundaries.
Model this arroyo to encourage your people to take responsible risks, and to be more artistic.
3. Clarify Your Mistake
Next, yous demand to clarify your mistake honestly and objectively. Inquire yourself the following questions:
- What was I trying to do?
- What went wrong?
- When did it get wrong?
- Why did it get incorrect?
Our article, 5 Whys, describes a straightforward yet powerful tool for identifying the causes of unproblematic or moderately difficult problems. To use it, start with the error and go along asking "Why?" until you get to the root cause.
For complex or more critical problems, a more in-depth tool, such as Causal Factor Charting, may exist more advisable.
Conducting this "postmortem" should reveal what led to the mistake, and highlight what needs to alter in order to avert a repeat.
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4. Put Lessons Learned Into Exercise
The danger at this stage is that work pressures force you back to your routine tasks and habitual behaviors. The lessons that you identified in Footstep 3 could languish, unfulfilled, as mere proficient intentions. In other words, learning lessons is one thing, but putting them into practice is quite some other!
Chances are, acting on what you've learned volition require the subject area and motivation to change your habits, or to change the way that your team works. Doing then volition help you lot to avoid self-demolition in the future, and will allow you to reap the rewards and benefits of implementing better work practices.
Here, yous need to identify the skills, cognition, resources, or tools that will keep you from repeating the error.
Do so with care, though, because "quick fixes" will likely atomic number 82 to further mistakes. Any actions that you have to implement your learning need to exist enduring, and something that y'all can commit to.
If your mistake was a pocket-sized or a personal ane, personal goals and activity plans will lay the groundwork for implementing the lessons you've learned. They can give you a timescale to work to, and a list of the tasks that you'll demand to consummate.
The specific tools that you use from there on will depend on the particular lessons that y'all need to put into practice.
For example, if y'all learned that a mistake occurred because of your forgetfulness, aides-mémoire or greater attention to detail could help. If yous constitute that your organizational skills were below par, digital planners and spreadsheets would exist useful.
Or, if yous discovered that an error occurred because of a cross-cultural misunderstanding, your communication skills might need a smoothen.
If the mistake was more than organizational than personal, yous may need to implement your learning in a more far-reaching way. Writing clearer procedures, for example, could help to ensure that more gets washed without mistakes.
Understanding Zenger and Folkman'due south 10 Fatal Leadership Flaws could assist to tackle errors from the peak. In fact, not learning from mistakes is one of the 10 flaws, and providing clear and specific feedback is i way to counter this flaw.
And, if you lot learned that your new production wasn't distinctive enough to be successful, you may need to revisit your whole strategy.
Tip i:
Learning from mistakes, and putting that learning into practice, involves change. If that change will impact other people, the ADKAR Alter Management Model could assistance yous to get them "on board" – and to keep them there.
Tip 2:
Don't exist afraid to ask colleagues or your director for assistance if you're unsure which tactic or tool will be the well-nigh effective in preventing further mistakes.
Involving other people is a great mode to make them feel invested – and information technology can exist especially important when mistakes are made at a team or organizational level. And then, foster an environment where people feel comfortable about expressing their ideas.
five. Review Your Progress
You lot may take to try out several ways to put your learning into practice before you detect one that successfully prevents you lot from repeating past errors. The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is a great tool for pinpointing the about effective solutions.
From at that place, monitor the efficacy of your called tactic by reviewing the number and nature of mistakes that do – or don't! – still go fabricated. Asking someone to hold yous accountable tin assist you to stay committed to your new course of action.
Central Points
To err is man, and nosotros don't have to punish ourselves for the mistakes that we make. They can be great opportunities to learn, and to develop on a personal, equally well as an organizational, level. We simply need to learn from them, and to put that learning into practice.
When you, or one of your team members, brand a error:
- Own upwardly to it. Don't play the "blame game." This is detrimental in the long run, and you'll lose the potential for learning.
- Reframe your mistake equally an opportunity to learn and develop.
- Review what went wrong, to sympathise and learn from your mistake.
- Identify the skills, cognition, resources, or tools that will go on you from repeating the fault.
- Review your progress.
Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/learn-from-mistakes.htm
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