When you make a mistake at work

Handled right, setbacks can become opportunities

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is about how to handle things when you
make a mistake at work. Today's tip, like a few
other recent ones, comes from management expert Alison Green's book

(00:25):
Ask a Manager. This book covers all sorts of workplace
sticky situations and how to deal with them. This includes
major screw ups. We all like to pride ourselves on
our great performance, but you're going to make a mistake
at some point, Green rights, because you're human and that
is what we do. She notes that this category of

(00:46):
people who make mistakes most definitely includes her. She shares
that every high performer she has ever managed has likewise
royally screwed up once or twice. The important thing to know,
she says, is that the way you handle it can
end up being more important than the mistake itself. So
here's what you do. First, tell your boss what happened

(01:09):
right away. Don't put it off because you're dreading the conversation,
Green rights. Delaying will make things worse, partly because it
will send the message that you value your own comfort
over the needs of your work Second, take responsibility for
what happened. Don't make excuses if you act like it
wasn't a big deal or you aren't responsible for it.

(01:32):
This will compound the damage because now your boss will
be alarmed that your cavalier about errors or don't take
ownership of them. Green rights, Basically, if you show that
you know the situation is serious, your boss will be
in a better mindset about the mistake already because she
no longer has to convince you that it's a problem. Third,

(01:52):
briefly explain how the mistake happened. As Green notes, this
is important not only because your boss might want to
know the particularly because she'll want to know that you know.
If you don't understand how a mistake happened, it's more
likely to happen again, and both of you would like
to avoid that scenario. So finally, you need to explain
how you plan to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

(02:16):
Green writes that in a lot of cases, your boss
won't care so much about the details of your plan.
She'll just want to know that you have a plan,
that you're taking it seriously and will work to prevent
similar mistakes in the future. If you do these things,
you're likely to convince everyone that you're learning and growing

(02:36):
in your role. You're on an upward trajectory. Indeed, in
some ways, setbacks can become opportunities. You can have a
real honest chat with your manager about your performance, how
you can improve, and you can convince her that you
are responsible and trustworthy. Life is never completely charmed. Something

(02:59):
is always going to go wrong somewhere, and when the
people who work with you know that you can stay
calm and focused on solutions, they'll trust you to handle
more and more. If you've ever made a big mistake
at work, I'd love to hear about how you recovered
and turned it into an opportunity. You can email me
at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart media dot com. In

(03:23):
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

(03:43):
Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E
the number four then Breakfast p o D. You can
also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at
i Heeart Media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled
out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

(04:10):
of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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