Did you ever do something that you regretted later?
Made a mistake that still haunts you?
Of course you did. We all make mistakes.
The mistakes we know about are important , but they’re not dangerous.
The dangerous mistakes are the ones we don’t know we made.
Errors aren’t linear, they accumulate & grow.
One mistake doesn’t stay alone, it becomes part of the fabric of future decisions.
Not only can past mistakes become invisible, they can set us on wrong paths which are impossible to re-track.
The worst mistakes are the ones we later rationalize as good decisions.
The important issue for leaders is that identifying and correcting mistakes is a crucial responsibility.
It’s not an option.
The good leader isn’t the super boss who finds errors.
A good leader puts a culture, systems and processes in place that make errors visible, quickly.
Before they compound or disappear or get rationalized.
“…the dangerous mistakes are the ones we don’t know we made…”
Remember that most people don’t know when they make mistakes and won’t ever realize unless someone tells them.
A good leader makes it safe to reveal mistakes, quickly.
When it comes to hits and misses, people usually remember the hits and forget the misses.
Especially if they’re not measuring or recording them.
Businesses can fail in a slow death spiral simply because performance wasn’t tracked and people were more afraid of their mistakes being known about than the consequences of the actual mistake.
Do you look for mistakes?
Do you encourage quick reporting of errors?
Do you track & record performance relentlessly so that mistakes can be seen, even well after the event?
Hindsight is not just a wonderful thing, it’s a good learning tool.
Do you give fast feedback when you see something wrong or worry about how the other person might react?
Do mistakes get treated systematically or used as punishment?
Do you ever make mistakes?
.
.
“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”