Blundering Mistakes
Why do mistakes have a way of entering the equation at the worst possible time?
In the late 90’s I was a recruiting manager in a staffing agency in Michigan. A prospective customer I’d been calling for months finally decided to do business with me. Tami didn’t take on new vendors often, but was willing to give me a shot by allowing me to place one data entry operator for a multi-month assignment. This was huge. If it went well, I could expect a significant increase in business in the future. The company used dozens of temporary employees at any given moment.
Not even one week into the assignment, Tami called to tell me to fire my employee and forget about doing business with her. My employee had fallen asleep on his computer console, messed up what he was entering when his cheek hit the keyboard — now functioning as his pillow — and caused something to short circuit when he drooled. I was horrified. When I called my employee to terminate him, he was noticeably mortified. He explained he was on a new medication and he didn’t expect it to make him drowsy. He’d traditionally been a wonderful employee so I let it go and figured the contract simply wasn’t meant to be. Berating him wasn’t going to change the situation and the remorse he felt was clear.
Not wanting to leave Tami with a bad last impression, I decided to send her an apology note. I found a card with a cute kitten curled up in a typewriter and wrote “Too bad Anthony wasn’t this adorable when he fell asleep on his keyboard.” I went on to apologize, noted she was getting a credit for the time and thanked her for giving me the chance. A few days later she called, laughing about the card, and placed a large order for temporary employees from me. She liked how I handled the situation and, after allowing time to pass, accepted it wasn’t an intentional mistake on Anthony’s part.
I learned a lot from that experience. It set the tone for my habits as a manager. I realized in that situation how much everyone wins when the person managing a problem — specifically a mistake — effectively and expediently guides all parties through the experience to a good outcome. Humans are going to make them, after all, and it’s helpful when those most impacted by our reactions to a mistake can trust our ability to be objective and measured. Looking back, some of my best relationships have come from going through a rough patch together and finding ways to grow from the ordeal. In the best circumstances, we have also had amazing stories to tell and laugh about. “Remember the time…”
Managing mistakes is one of the most important things good leaders do. This ranges from effectively identifying mistakes, creating a culture where it’s safe to admit them, being consistent with accountability, reacting proportionately to the situation, encouraging rational and transparent dialogue and, most importantly, ensuring people recognize honest mistakes aren’t a life sentence.
When managers blunder mistake management, culture suffers. I’ve seen it play out in a variety of ways through the years: overreacting to a simple situation, underreacting to a significant situation, dragging a mistake out over an extended period of time, bringing a larger audience into the mistake, being inconsistent with concerns and accountability, failing to provide a good path forward, overlooking systems or processes that invite mistakes, indulging in venting versus requiring constructive dialogue, focusing on how the mistake makes ‘them’ look, neglecting the humanity of all involved parties.
Mistakes are on my mind right now. With so many working and living in challenging conditions, relying on digital messages to convey intentions and trying new things, mistakes are plenty. Reactions to those mistakes add to existing stress felt by managers, employees, customers and loved ones. I see the evidence in my social media feeds and hear it in the conversations I’m having with those in the thick of a problem.
I’ve found good and bad reactions to mistakes, whether our own or others, are often rooted in good intentions. At the end of the day, people don’t want the mistake to happen again, don’t want the problems associated with the mistake and don’t want others to think they haven’t taken the mistake seriously. Imagine if we could make a collective commitment to lean into those good intentions in the presence of mistakes and find ways to learn, grow and delight all involved. We can make sure things don’t happen again by teaching. We can find quick solutions to the problems the mistake caused. We can show we are taking the mistake seriously by actively working to resolve its consequences. There can be positive actions and words at every step. Think of what we’ll gain in the process and the stories we’ll all have to tell out in the open with smiles.
Wherever they are, I hope Tami and Anthony — like me — have had an opportunity to recount our mishap with a laugh.
