The right to make mistakes: getting off on the right foot?
In a society based on meritocracy, we are omnibulled by the need to achieve performance, creativity and initiative in order to stand out from the crowd… Could we be so sclerotic by these old educational scores (be perfect! Be careful! Are you sure? You’re barking up the wrong tree!) that we can’t see the cost of this amalgam of error and fault on our teams/employees?
It’s hardly surprising that our relationship with mistakes is a source of fear, stress and disempowerment in our companies. Understanding a mistake, and learning from it, is a way of uncovering the mechanisms of decision-making and its evaluation over time.
“A person who has never made a mistake has never tried to innovate” – Albert Einstein
How do you turn failure into opportunity? Why does failure form the basis of success? How does succeeding in change projects (and therefore risking failure along the way) increase well-being and longevity?
Energy spent hiding mistakes is wasted
Generally speaking, mistakes have a bad reputation in the professional world (and elsewhere!). It’s linked to incompetence or to the consequences it can generate. As a result, employees spend more energy covering up mistakes, even to the point of denying them, than using this time to implement a positive solution and move forward. This narcissistic sense of perfection and “I’m not allowed to make mistakes” is neither healthy nor mature within a company, nor anywhere else. After all, if Christopher Columbus hadn’t miscalculated, he’d never have discovered America.
Differentiating between error, failure and fault
Embarking on a positive error management approach means first of all distinguishing between the notions of error, failure and fault:
- Errors are not intentional, but can be the result of inattention or incapacity. It may be of human origin, or the result of an ill-defined process.
- Failure is the consequence of an unsuccessful objective. We fail when we have not succeeded in fulfilling our commitment, an objective, an ambition.
- Mistakes and failures are rarely premeditated, unlike faults, which are conscious and voluntary transgressions of the rules in force.
Is the right to make mistakes a management tool?
For effective management, formulate and exploit the right to make mistakes within your team:
- Healthier, more honest collaboration between you and your teams.
- Less stress and defensive attitudes among your employees.
- Your corrective feedback and advice will be better understood and taken into account.
“The greatest glory of existence lies not in constant success, but in rising after a fall.” Nelson Mandela
Managers, how do you deal with mistakes?
Acceptance of error is a prerequisite for effective management:
- Set up the “Glop/Oups of the week”: get your teams to react with and reflect on a piece of good news, or a constructive lesson learned during a seminar following a mistake.
- Formulate your openness and support for the right to make mistakes in order to perform (distinguishing between mistakes and errors).
- And just for you, take up the challenge of this mirror effect… list 3 mistakes that have enabled you to evolve and progress?
