How to Handle (Your Own) Mistakes at Work

I made a mistake at work. There, I said it.

It wasn’t a mistake that jeopardized my job or the company’s integrity, of course, but it was one that could have been avoided. And that’s precisely why it feels so bad.

On social media, it’s normal to see images of celebrations accompanied by inspiring texts about new achievements, career progress, project successes, or another certification. But stories of failures—or at least mistakes—are rare. Is it really that bad to make a mistake?

Definitely not. On the contrary, it can be a positive thing if managed well.

Why does making mistakes hurt so much?

We all make mistakes constantly. When we make a new mistake, it’s easy to start thinking about all the mistakes we’ve made in the past and spiral into self-loathing for being a failure.

It’s our ego talking, telling us how, once again, we’re falling short in the eyes of others. It’s probably just us judging ourselves.

But beyond that, when it comes to mistakes at work, many people struggle to admit them or ask for help out of fear of facing repercussions from their managers. Many companies have a leadership style that punishes employees for mistakes, which creates negative impacts not only for the individuals but also for the company as a whole.

When employees see a colleague being punished or facing repercussions for a mistake, they’re unlikely to raise their hand to flag a new issue that needs attention. According to a Gallup study (2017), this type of corporate culture leads to decreased employee satisfaction, a climate of fear and constant surveillance, loss of motivation, and reduced productivity, ultimately affecting business results.

Moreover, a 2017 Harvard Business Review study found that companies that punish mistakes tend to have less innovation and a less collaborative work style.

Embracing Mistakes

No one likes to make mistakes, even less so when others notice we’ve failed again. But if we recognize that making mistakes is part of being human, and if the company acknowledges that everyone is susceptible to error, we’re providing that essential psychological safety for a culture of openness and collaboration, where there’s constant dialogue, a drive for innovation, and high motivation.

Companies that embrace this approach not only drive continuous improvement and innovation but also ensure that mistakes are addressed and resolved quickly, promoting learning from them. That’s the key: having a learning culture.

As Ikujiro Nonaka explains in his famous 1991 article in Harvard Business Review, The Knowledge-Creating Company: “Companies are not machines; they are living organisms,” and as such, they are always susceptible to errors and improvements, which fosters learning and innovation.

Learning Culture

Many people talk about a culture of error where mistakes are positively acknowledged and addressed. However, personally, I prefer to speak of a learning culture—not just to downplay the error itself but to emphasize the outcome of the mistake. What matters is what happens after the mistake, how we correct it, learn from it, and communicate it to others.

A learning culture focuses on how easily employees can access continuous training, personal development tools, technical training platforms, etc. However, an authentic learning culture also involves leaders providing a “safety net” so that people feel encouraged to try new things, explore options, make decisions, and, yes, even fail in the process.

A culture that encourages colleagues to share their success stories and how they managed a mistake and turned it into a learning opportunity means everyone else can learn, too. That transformative knowledge multiplies.

The Importance of Organizational Culture in Recognizing Mistakes

In previous discussions, we’ve talked about the three core values at GBH, especially one of them—Be Open—which reflects our commitment to openness and dialogue.

From day one, we explained to our collaborators that at GBH, anyone can propose a project idea, suggest improvements to existing processes, talk about new learnings, voice concerns about changes in the company, and, of course, admit to a mistake, knowing their lead will be the first to support them and help find a solution.

At GBH, we have an incredibly talented, dedicated, and committed team that is always looking for continuous improvement and innovation. Both continuous improvement and innovation require experimentation, which inevitably leads to mistakes, failures, or situations where we need to roll back implementations.

However, mistakes are not punished. We also raise our hands, expose the issue, discuss it with the involved parties, seek support, resolve it, and, most importantly, learn from it.

I Made a Mistake, Now What?

Even though we know we have the support of our leaders and the company, we need to understand that mistakes are ours, and we must take responsibility for them.

The good news is that the mistake stops being the focus when we take some actions. Here are a few tips that have helped me in the past and seem valuable:

• First, identify the mistake and take ownership of it. As soon as you realize you’ve made a mistake, take responsibility—never try to hide or ignore it. This is crucial to maintaining trust in yourself and your work.
• When you recognize your mistake, put it into context. Is it as important as it seems at the moment? What seems like a terrible mistake may often be mild and can have a solution. Contextualizing helps not only reduce the weight of the error but also helps you think about it more calmly and without anxiety.
• Looking at the mistake with a clear head helps you see it from a different perspective and weigh possible actions, making it easier to decide on the best way to address the mistake and find a solution.
• Involve your leader and make them aware of what happened. When you approach them, don’t just present the mistake but also the solution you’ve found. If the decision isn’t up to you, at least present your proposal.
• Document everything, not just the mistake itself but also why it happened, the solution you arrived at, and how you can ensure it doesn’t happen again. And share this with those involved or potentially affected.
  • This not only helps improve processes but also fosters that learning culture we talked about earlier. Learning from mistakes is much more significant than it seems, as it prevents the same error from recurring and impacts personal growth, developing critical competencies like problem analysis, decision-making, self-awareness, and accountability, among others.
• Lastly, viewing all the above as steps, and once we reach this point, we can look back and realize that a mistake does not define us, is not part of our identity, and certainly does not determine our future. So, when you find that you’ve made a mistake, treat yourself with compassion.

Something similar to this phrase reflects our aspirations. At GBH, we do our work with the highest quality and care, with a strong commitment to understanding how what we do contributes to the team’s outcome.

We also have a work philosophy focused on developing products and providing services with empathy and care for our clients. We work with humility to evolve and grow. This leads us to recognize that everything can be improved, and we can learn from any situation.

When it comes to making mistakes, we aim to make them in safe spaces so that we can identify possible solutions before any implementation. We rely on technical tests, various testing techniques, control platforms, etc.

Still, unforeseen things can happen, and mistakes can occur. When that happens, we acknowledge it, trigger alarms immediately, and as a team, identify the best way to resolve it, all while staying upbeat and learning throughout the process. Knowing that in many cases (the vast majority), that mistake and learning will only take us further on our path.

As writer and entrepreneur Arianna Huffington says, “Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of success.”

What other advice would you give to someone who has made a mistake?

Sources:

• Gallup. (2017). State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders. Gallup.
• Edmondson, A. (2017). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Harvard Business Review Press.