Making mistakes is inevitable.
For those of you who are just at the beginning of your respective careers, you might not know how to take ownership of the errors you have made.
In situations like this, some may try to hide their mistakes and move on while others may own up and make an effort to not repeat them in the future.
However, let it be known that making mistakes is part of developing yourself professionally. Here are some things you can do to overcome them at work:
Admit to your mistakes
Admitting to one’s mistake is one the hardest things to do, but it can be one of the most powerful moves you can undertake in your career and personal lives.
After confessing to your mistake, reflect on what led to it so that you can concentrate on avoiding it afterwards.
For example, if in the past you have caused a blunder in submitting an application or a proposal to your employer, learn to pay more attention, conduct more research and think through your decision before sending anything in the future.
However, bear in mind that if you apologise too often, it can dilute the meaning of your words and make you look less sincere, which will not help in terms of your employer or your colleagues’ trust towards you.
Present a solution to correct the error
Nobody likes making mistakes, but it is unavoidable especially when you are not unsure if what you are doing is right.
For this type of situation, make sure to have a ‘Plan B’ in case your original plan does not pan out well.
Do reassure your colleagues and employer that you are working on a solution to rectify your mistakes.
Be clear about what your plan is, what you should do and what the expected result should be like, as well as how long it will take to implement the solution.
Do not blame others
When working with your colleagues, there will be times when all of you are responsible for a mistake.
While it would be a ideal to have everyone take responsibility equally for the mistake, in reality this may or may not occur.
However, this does not give you the justification to point fingers at others, whether or not they have acknowledged their part in contributing to the error.
Thus, the least you can do is to offer your assessment of what happened, and how you and your colleagues will prevent a similar problem in the future.
Forgive yourself
After committing a mistake, you will feel so bad about it that you beat yourself up for giving a bad impression to your employer.
When that happens, calm down. That is the very first thing you need to do for yourself.
Making mistakes is part of our working life and chances are this will not be the last time you will make mistakes throughout your career.
What is most important, however, is how you handle these mistakes, because that will determine how you have matured and developed as a person and also as a professional.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
