Do over. Right? Or is it mulligan? I was listening to music today and felt compelled to write this thought, this blog. What if you make a mistake?
While the easy question is have you ever made a mistake, the better question is what you did with the learning when you made it? Ask my wife. I have made mistakes. I have made many. I have also put them into perspective. Not every issue in our life is an obvious learning moment (as they say). In fact, they can be very illusive. They can also be right in your face.
Let’s say you have a team of five. You have been running lean with your hours in an effort to save some profit. You have in that same effort noticed six potential customers in the last two hours who never got acknowledged in any way. Which matters most? The profit saved or the customer lost? Which initiative got implemented and at what cost? But that is once in a while, right? That does not happen all the time. Sure about that? Or is it what you want to say? What did you learn?
I know a dealer principal (owner of many wireless retail locations) who says, “Yeah, I empower my team to do the right thing”. That is what one hand says. The other says that the manager better not go over their profit targets. You are the manager in this situation. How do you react? What do you learn and how does that learning take shape in the next 30 minutes or next month or so on?
What happens next? What happens when we say “OK, I get it? What would you have me do NOW?” Does that make sense? I have in so many occasions acknowledged that I need to do “x” when “x” is required. I know this because I did not do it the first time. And I probably did not do it the second time either, but that is another post. In management, we strive to get things done and then they are not done to our liking, what happens? For example, delegation is such an important part of our job and yet, it is one we neglect as we are too conscientious to let someone else own it. We are a ‘task-hoarder’ because it is better that we own it than have to suffer the consequences; or something like that. What if we let someone else own it and, wait for it, they failed, what would you do? Does failure scare us? Does the idea of a mistake sit better with you when it when it doesn’t hurt or there is little to risk? I read something today that said something like, you never know how far you can go until you let yourself go. Embrace the possibility of mistake along side the possibility of success.
Here is another consideration. In my industry, I know training and development specialists who believe it is important to make sure the learners succeed at all costs during the learning path. Really? I couldn’t disagree more. You have to make mistakes during learning. You have to feel the choice go “south”. I completely agree with the need to create a safe environment to make mistakes, I do not agree with the idea everyone wins at all costs in learning. We have to fail sometimes to learn our lesson. Recently, I put a newly hired manager in a tough meeting scenario. He went down in flames. His regional manager let me know he learned more in those minutes than if he had not. His confidence is better and higher, because he failed? Heaven forbid we facilitate someone’s failure. That would be wrong. Bull-crap. We elevate in mistakes. I remember my first snowboarding day. I learned very quickly what not to do next time. But that is not management, right?
So what if I make a mistake? Fine. Welcome to the human race. And welcome to the management reality. You will make mistakes and that is final. So what to do?
First off, own them. Straight up. Make the mistake, look at what happened and adjust accordingly.
Identify the learning lesson. It can be obvious or it can be not so much. Make it an “aha”.
Invest in others. Let them have a say and learn how what you did affected them and others.
Share what happened. Let others know what can happen and why.
Walk forward. Just walk into what happens next without feeling like you suck.
I have a lot to celebrate. I also have a lot to not celebrate. I like a statement made by someone I know in Halifax, NS – “It is what it is.” One might say that is just letting what you do be and not necessarily allowing accountability into the equation. Really? I can suck it up like the rest of you. I know when I “biffed” it and I will own it every time. It is up to me to change behavior. I will make a mistake, said the manager. I will also learn from it. Skippy failed at some task. If it was me, I will adjust to help him win next time.
Does this post make you laugh? Does it make you think, really, I have to read about the obvious? Come on, mistakes? Yep. It is not the absence of or obvious nature of mistakes, it is the awareness of how they matter in what happens tomorrow. I am sure I made a mistake today. I am also sure I will figure out how it matters.