Leadership: Accepting Mistakes
Success January 19th, 2009Learn From Your Mistakes
Mistakes are unavoidable in life and leaders certainly make their share of them. Any time you look to break new ground or technologies or whatever it is you are leading, you open up many new avenues for mistakes and they are inevitable with change. You can’t have one without the other and so learning to use mistakes well is an important leadership trait. The first point about mistakes is that a great leader learns from their own mistakes. They know when they make it and will quickly look at what can be salvaged or gained from the mistake as to avoid it in the future or to streamline some action or process to improve it next time. This makes no difference if the mistake is big or small, there is always something to be learned from it and mistakes offer an immediate piece of feedback to anyone who is wise enough to learn from it.
Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom. (Phyllis Therous)
Another point of learning from mistakes is to also be a leader in this area and actually admit your own mistakes. Admit when you were wrong, and emphasize what you have learned from it and what your next steps are work around that mishap. If you encourage and set the example of owning up to mistakes quickly and working past them, you can quickly inspire your followers to do the same and look at the value of the mistakes instead of hiding from them.
Leave Room for Mistakes to Happen
If you have done the first part and owned up and admitted your own mistakes you have done a great service to those following you. You have proven that you are OK with mistakes happening as long as they are learned from. You must do the same for others. That is, give them room to make mistakes, make sure they know that and don’t reprimand mistakes, instead simply follow up on what they have learned and that they have put in place things to ensure it doesn’t repeat itself. If you make sure people know that they have some room to try new things, innovate, be creative and take some risks, then the fear of making mistakes is greatly reduced. Of course you don’t want to encourage mistakes to happen when they are avoidable, but if you give people some extra time, room and allowance to do their own steps and learn in the process, they will be much more likely to learn from them as well. A previous article I wrote here called The Power of Making Mistakes should add some details if you are interested.
Sometime as a leader there is value is leaving a decision or process up to someone else for them to learn from it. Even if you know the best method or the result of some idea, there is great value in promoting others’ ideas and seeing it though, even if there is a mistake bound to happen because of it. Adopting the ideas of others and letting the mistakes guide things beyond it will quickly grow all those involved and gain a lot of trust and respect of the leader when the mistakes are OK and not constantly punished. This fear of making mistakes is a huge contributer why people fear change, fear risk and don’t step up to their full potential, so eliminating that fear of mistakes, eliminates much of that other baggage as well.
Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you somebody who has never achieved much. (Joan Collins)
Don’t Dwell on Mistakes, Look Beyond and Move Forward
Learning from mistakes clearly needs some analysis of the mistake itself to gain value from it. This is certainly true and there are a few steps to use to analyze a mistake quickly and efficiently:
- Accept that it happened and can’t be changed.
- Know there is always something to learn from it.
- Look to understand it and the factors that caused it.
- How could you have recognized the mistake earlier?
- How can you avoid the mistake next time?
- Are there similar things that might have a related mistake to avoid?
- What has changed now to ensure that mistake doesn’t reoccur?
- Who else should know about this and learn from it?
So, once you have done this initial analysis of the mistake, its time to move on. No matter how big the mistake was, just let it go and move on. Make the changes needed to avoid it next time and make sure that everything you spend time on now in accepting the mistake is with the future in mind, not the past. Put your focus on what you can do for next time, not what you should have done. Ask what individuals are doing now or in the future to ensure it won’t repeat itself and remind people to think of ways to avoid the similar event. All these actions will move you forward and enable you to quickly adapt and deal with similar situations in the future even better and hopefully you will never make the same mistake again!

Accepting Mistakes – Move On
When you focus on the improvements and lessons learned from a mistake you reinforce the ability to make mistakes part of the process and something that is accepted as long as it improves things. There is no value in worrying about the mistake or dwelling on it after it is done. So, move on!
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. (Elbert Hubbard)
Mistakes to Avoid as a Leader
So, while all this encouraging of mistakes and learning from them are important as a leader to make some room for, they obviously need to be balanced and still minimized whenever possible ahead of time, especially when the risks are high. There are also some mistakes that will immediately set you back as a leader if you make them so knowing these and avoiding them is a big help in leadership. Here are my top 10 mistakes you can make as a leader so definitely areas to!
- Pull the power or authority card
- Do the work yourself because you are faster or better
- Point the blame finger
- Focus on tasks instead of results
- Avoid change
- Don’t listen to or accept others’ ideas
- Complain or be negative
- Hoard everything for job security
- Claim or take any credit
- Not showing appreciation
Prev: Leadership: Willingness to Take Risks
Next: Leadership: Give Direction
January 19th, 2009 at 7:23 AM
Great stuff, Mike!
I like the “Mistakes to Avoid as a Leader” list. Especially, “Do the work yourself because you are faster or better”. Take a look at John Wooden’s rules for leaders here
http://practicethis.com/2008/06/06/john-woodens-12-lessons-in-leadership-for-kids/
It is really good stuff. I adopted it to my kids. I am supposed to be a leader for them, eh? 🙂
January 19th, 2009 at 7:43 AM
Those are wise words and rules for leadership, that is for sure. Thanks for commenting Alik and I’m glad to see you blogging again and visiting here, it was a gap for a little while!
January 19th, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Mike this is one of your best articles,I feel.
I agree with all your points to avoid after a mistake.
Usually too much time is spent on beating yourself up.Total waste of energy when that energy should be used in a positive manor.
Encouraging your team that this was a well learned lesson.Project is over move right along to the next.
No matter how hard the stumble you have to get back on track.Sort of like learning to ride a horse and being kicked off. If you don’t get right back on again,you may never learn how to ride.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:55 AM
This is a very good article, Mike. I like the part mistake to avoid as a leader. I use to do almost all of them and still sometime do those that mistake. I hope I can change that.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Whether one is guarding against making them or has the humility of accepting them or even not getting bogged down with past mistakes, one continues to enhance his worth as a leader. You have put all of them in good perspective here. The ‘mistakes to avoid’ is a great toolkit and sums up some of the most significant pitfalls to guard against.
Your series really scores as a handbook for practicing leaders.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:15 PM
I agree with all your posts. I try and incorporate all these points with the employees I manage. I read a lot of leadership books and what you wrote encompass some of the best from those books. Great job
January 19th, 2009 at 6:37 PM
@Bunny, Thank you so much for your compliments! Yes, getting back on your feet and moving ahead while learning from some past mistakes is powerful, no doubt. Thanks for reinforcing the value of avoiding those wastes in beating yourself up from a mistake!
@Pushhyarag, thanks so much for these thoughts and yes, there is definitely a point in looking both to learn from and move forward as well as avoid making them again.
@maria, thanks so much for that feedback, keep on doing what you are doing then!
January 19th, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Mistakes can be real learning moments, if we are open to them as such. And when we’re in a culture that accepts honest mistakes as opportunities to grow – what a great environment! I have personally found that when I make a mistake AND own up to that mistake – accept it as mine – almost always people are receptive to moving forward – and really, it becomes like an added level of understanding (as long as it doesn’t happen too much). Mike, this is a great look at mistakes and how they really can enhance our leadership (if handled correctly).
January 19th, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Mike, your 10 items at the end can serve as a speedy checklist to run through about various entities we are performing leadership roles on. Focusing on tasks, instead of results, can be a tough mindset to switch out of once the habit is formed. A person has to remind themself that completing tasks without getting results is like pushing a rock against a wall, or pushing a wall itself.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Hi Mike
I find that such a novel idea to let others explore and make mistakes that you could have prevented. That is a true example of taking a long-term view.
Good post,
Juliet
January 20th, 2009 at 12:21 AM
Hi Mike, other great points from you. I like the subtitle : Leave room for mistakes to happen. Some leaders do not tolerate their people’s mistakes. It is why their team become less creative.
Another point : although the leaders give room to their people to make mistakes, but do not make the same mistake twice.
Thanks for sharing, Mike.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:57 AM
OK, I must admit I made #2 mistake [do it yourself because YOU THINK you are better or faster] repeatedly until I got completely exhausted. I learned a very valuable lesson for a manager and that is the power to delegate.
I really enjoy your series about leadership, is getting better and better.
Keep up the good work.
January 20th, 2009 at 6:37 AM
These are very good reminders. It is true, mistakes are the stepping stones of success. My favorite that you spoke of is to give people the room to make mistakes, including our selves. Not allowing mistakes to be made creates a very boring environment where growth is truncated.
January 20th, 2009 at 5:57 PM
@Lance, yes, that admittance of a mistake made can be a HUGE asset in propelling things forward with a team. That practice of leadership by doing it first and making it seen is a value method to encourage this. Great tip!
@Armen, thanks for your thoughts. That #2 item is definitely a tough one and I know for me when I can avoid that, it pays off quicker than most others as it otherwise continually holds me back in leading others. Breaking these types of habits is definitely something to work on, they are not easy, that is for sure!
@Juliet, this one takes careful execution to knowingly let others make mistakes. Especially if you are under a watchful eye. I know I’ve had to explain myself a couple time at work for why someone did something wrong when I could have prevented it. The value of that extra work or cost in rework is not always visible at first glance and takes more consideration to realize it has long term benefits, just like you say!
@Arswino, same as Juliet’s comment above and you’re point about creativity here I can definitely agree with. You MUST allow creative ideas to be carried out on as much as possible or you will limit the ideas you get exposed to if you only shut them down. People learn best from their own ideas so using other’s ideas and making room for more creativity will empower them more.
@Dragos, I think we all do that one all too often. Sometimes it takes that burn out effect to realize how much we do it. Great idea how delegation can help with that problem. Knowing the right steps to delegate will definitely help with that. I’ve written a couple articles on delegation you might want to check out!
How to Make Delegation Work For You
Delegation is an Amazing Learning Tool
@Mark, thanks for your thoughts on this topic as well! I agree that things would be very boring without the mistakes we all make to learn from!
January 21st, 2009 at 12:40 AM
More too often we are afraid to try something because we might commit mistake and fail.
But shouldn’t be. Because there’s only 2 things that can happen when we give something a shot. It’s either we WIN or we LEARN.
Thanks for this post Mike!
JeD Chan
January 21st, 2009 at 12:58 AM
By the way, had stumbled it, dugg! mixxed, and reddit this. 😉
January 21st, 2009 at 4:42 AM
True story. In our first job after graduating from college, one of our first assignments was to configure one of our client company’s mail servers.
In one of the offsite locations, we somehow accidentally formatted the entire server! We spent all day trying to recover whatever we could, but the thing was just beyond repair.
And so the day ended, we were out of ideas on how to fix the machine, and we felt we had no choice but to fess up to the boss. We’re sure you can imagine that we were absolutely dreading making the phone call and delivering the prematurely career-ending news.
To our utter amazement, all the boss said was “Great, your career is now truly fast-tracked: you can never become a manager until you accidentally format a server!”
We owe a great deal to that boss.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:32 AM
@JeD, thanks so much for your comments and help promoting my articles! We WIN or we LEARN, I like that!
@A Friend, great story and clearly the style of leadership that demonstrates this topic perfectly. See how memorable and impactful a leader with this technique can truly be? It reminds me of the stories where mistake costs a company $100,000 and when the person fesses up, the leader says, “Why would we fire you, we just spent $100,000 training you!” Thanks for sharing your story!
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:07 AM
thanks for this article mike, it was very useful for me specially when i did my presentation about ‘dare to make a mistake’ in my office. (mito- Indonesia)
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:53 AM
Nice mito and I’m glad to hear it helped you out. That is an awesome thing to be presenting on!
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 AM
Great stuff to read and think of .I share the idea of making mistakes from the phylosophical point of view.Mistakes are our experience which can not be bought in supermarket or found in the street.One guru was asked a question ”What is experience?= He says:Good judging. -And what was before?-Bad judging. I consider mistakes to be a part of natural process.And rather add a mistake indicates the direction of the next step in life.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:32 AM
Thanks for the article post! Although this is a relatively sensitive topic. Nobody want to talk about making mistakes especially if you have a very big responsibility. As a new leader, one of the most common mistakes is to micromanage. The good leader should focus more on the strategy and the mission/vision of his team and his company and he should learn how to delegate the details to his team.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:11 PM
It’s interesting that people never like to share their mistakes in our culture (at least that is my impression). In Japanese culture, they tend not to focus on the mistake, but instead, how the problem is to be alleviated.
Great post Mike!
March 10th, 2009 at 7:01 PM
I love this list of mistakes to avoid. They’re all so common when you really start observing leaders as I have done. I’d like to use this list to comment on in a post, of course crediting you. Would that be okay?
Also, I have put a link to your blog on mine http://dogsadvicetoleaders.com). I hope that’s okay with you. Please let me know if it’s not.
Thanks.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:26 PM
Thanks for the feedback Jo. I have no problem with you using the list (with some credit) and I am happy to see you can use it in your own blog. Thanks for checking, it’s much appreciated. I’ve checked out your blog once again (I’ve come across it a few times) and see there is some definitely content worth checking out. Keep up the work on helping out leadership, always nice to see more of. Once note, you might want to let your readers know of the free PDFs on my resources page if they want to grab the whole leadership series in one pdf.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:26 PM
[…] Leadership: Accepting Mistakes (LearnThis.ca) […]
January 3rd, 2011 at 6:08 PM
Couldn’t agree more with that, extremely appealing content. Thanks.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:21 PM
[…] Â Ask yourself why the mistake happened? Â Can you avoid it from happening again? Â What did you learn from the mistake and can you share that or teach it to […]
February 9th, 2012 at 11:50 PM
I have enjoyed my mistakes, and have learned from them. I continue to use them as my stepping stone for future endeavors, there is always something new to learn. I enjoy learning. Great not to repeat them.