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How to recover from a mistake

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Learning from your mistakes is the best thing you can do to improve as a professional; much of the credibility you earn with your colleagues will come from how you deal with such errors. Many people are incapable of facing up to their weakness; worst yet, many feel vulnerable if they admit they made a mistake. What you do following a mistake may determine just how big of a problem that situation will turn out to be. Here are some hints to help you recover from a mistake.


Hint no.1: Admit your mistake


Owning up to your mistake is the only way you will be able to learn from the experience. Moreover, admitting to errors gives your colleagues a sense that you are an up-front person. So, acknowledge your mistake - everyone makes them at some point - and take responsibility for it. In addition to making you defensive, denying responsibility only tends to elongate the resolution process.


Hint no.2: Address the problem


Take some time to try to understand what led to the mistake. Go back through the series of events prior to the error, consider at what point things went wrong and ask yourself what could have been done differently. Outline these details and document it for future internal reference.


Hint no.3: Communicate internally and externally


Depending on the mistake, you should consider addressing key stakeholders to prevent them from feeling blindsided. The earlier you expose the issue to these stakeholders, the better the outcome will be. Moreover, consider scheduling a meeting with your team to talk through the situation.


Hint no.4: Try to fix the problem


It is not enough to simply admit to your mistake if you do not take any corrective action to repair eventual consequences. So, make a commitment to rectify the current situation and do not hesitate to ask your colleagues for advice during this process. Subsequently, submit these ideas for internal approval.


Hint no.5: Learn the lessons


Learning the lessons is key to any experience, positive or negative. If you learn nothing from the mistakes you will inevitably commit, you will eventually put your career in jeopardy. Once the problem is understood and a solution has been reached, implement a process to keep that from happening again. Additionally, follow-up on the corrective action to guarantee neither you nor anybody else in the organisation repeats that same mistake again.

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