Do you own your mistakes?

A couple of weeks ago I made a $5000.00 mistake on a project I was working on. It wasn’t intentional and I was able to fix it before it actually cost us $5000.00. But it was a mistake. And not the first one I’ve made – obviously!

As I was walking through the steps to make it right, it made me think about the process of handling a mistake. We all make them. If you are leading, managing, creating, or taking any kind of risks at all, you’re going to make mistakes.

As a leader, I know that those on my team will make mistakes. Mistakes are our best teachers, and I fully expect that they will happen. Mistakes are not the problem, but what happens next makes all the difference.

3 Steps To Take:

Own it. When you or your team has made a mistake, or done something wrong take full responsibility. Make no excuses. Take immediate responsibility and take the next steps.

Confess it. It is important that your supervisor or those affected by the mistake hear it from you first.  Nobody likes negative surprises. Everyone appreciates a genuine apology. Your leader can genuinely stand with you when they are in the loop.

Make it right. Saying “oops!” is not enough. When you mess up, you’ve got to learn all that you can from the mistake and do what is needed to make it right.  It might mean an apology. It might mean re-ordering and spending more. It might mean doing without something you really wanted. It might be embarrassing.

What happens when you face your mistakes:

You are trusted. When those around you know that they will not be caught off guard or surprised by your mistakes or the mistakes of your team, they trust you. They will have watched you learn from past mistakes and they will know that the future is in better hands because of what you’ve learned.

You are supported. Support follows trust. In other words, when a parent complains to my boss about a problem, it is easy for them to give me their support if I have a proven history of owning, confessing, and making things right.

Or when another staff member sees a mistake, it’s easy for them to think the best because they’ve watched me own my mistakes in the past.

You are given freedom. When you work with a team of passionate, creative, and risk taking leaders then you know that mistakes will be made.  If anything, mistakes are almost embraced because you’ve eliminated one strategy that definitely won’t work!

Do you want more freedom to take risks and try new things? Then prove that you will face your mistakes in a healthy way and learn from them.

Sometimes, as leaders, it’s hard for us to admit when we are wrong. We spend a lot of time making excuses, covering up, or getting defensive. We think if those around us don’t find fault with us, then they will give us trust, support, and freedom. In all actuality, the opposite is true.

What do you do once you realize you’ve made a mistake?

Post written by:  Kendra Fleming - Multi-Campus - Children’s Ministry Director