Try as we might to do things right, we’re all going to mess up every once in a while.
We may say something that upsets a customer.
We’ll miss opportunities with customers.
We may miss a commitment.
We will lose a deal we shouldn’t have lost.
We will miss our numbers.
There are any number of things that we will mess up.
No one is perfect, we make mistakes. Situations and circumstances change, making what we’ve done wrong. However well we may have planned, prepared, anticipated, something happens and we fail.
Sometimes we fear failing so much, that we do nothing. We don’t take action, we wait, we avoid risk, we take the safe alternative, rather than experimenting with something new. We may be complacent or blind. We may not recognize that while everything around us is changing, we are being left behind.
Failing or messing up is not really the issue, it’s what we do with it that’s most critical.
Have we learned from our experience? Have we shared that with everyone else who is involved, so they can learn as well?
Have we owned up to it, not making excuses or trying to assign blame?
If we owe someone an apology, have we expressed it sincerely, and done what we can to correct the situation?
Do we know what we should do to avoid repeating the failure in the future?
Have you stopped kicking yourself about the mistake and moved on?
Have we taken the time to laugh, not taking ourselves or the situation too seriously?
Messing up is part of growing. If we’ve never messed up, if we’ve never failed, if we haven’t taken the opportunity to learn from it, then we aren’t growing and improving.
This article was originally published by Partners in Excellence
Published: March 24, 2014
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