Lesson to Dont Do It Again

ten MIN READ

How to Learn From Your Mistakes

... And Put Those Lessons Into Practice

"A smart human being makes a fault, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again." – Roy H. Williams (1958-), U.Southward. author and marketing practiced.

Think back to the last mistake that you made at piece of work. Even if it was a modest one, like spilling coffee on a document seconds before you were due to present information technology, you'll likely have felt a rush of panic and and then had the inconvenience of putting things right.

No one is immune to making mistakes – we are human, after all! But if we just apologize and carry on equally before, we're in danger of repeating the same errors.

When we don't learn from our mistakes, we inflict unnecessary stress on ourselves and on others, and we risk losing people's confidence and trust in us. In this article, nosotros look at how to ensure that we take those lessons on board, and and so use what we learn.

See the transcript for this video hither.

How to Finish Repeating Mistakes

Here are five steps to help you to learn from your mistakes, and to put what y'all notice into exercise.

Note:

"Making a fault" is not the aforementioned matter as "failing." A failure is the result of a wrong activity, whereas a mistake commonly is the wrong action. So, when y'all brand a error, y'all tin acquire from information technology and prepare information technology, whereas you can simply learn from a failure.

1. Own Your Mistakes

Y'all can't acquire anything from a error until you lot acknowledge that you've made it. So, accept a deep breath and admit to yours, then have ownership of it. Inform those who demand to know, repent, and tell them that you're working on a solution.

Proverb "sorry" takes courage, merely information technology's far better to come clean than to hide your error or, worse, to blame others for it. In the long run, people volition remember your courage and integrity long after they've forgotten the original fault.

If, however, they hear of information technology from some other source, your reputation volition suffer and you may not become another opportunity to learn.

2. Reframe the Error

How you view your mistakes determines the fashion that you react to them, and what you exercise next.

Chances are, you'll view your mistake in a purely negative light for as long as any initial stupor and discomfort almost it persists. But, if you can reframe your error as an opportunity to learn, you will motivate yourself to become more knowledgeable and resilient.

When you've acknowledged your error, think most what you could do to foreclose it from happening again. For example, if y'all didn't follow a process properly, consider introducing a more robust checklist or a clearer process document.

End chirapsia yourself upward, pause for a moment to reflect, and outset thinking most how you can proceeds from the situation.

Tip:

Your mindset plays a significant role in how you view your mistakes and, importantly, in how y'all react to them.

If you have a "growth" mindset, you likely run into mistakes as an opportunity to improve, and not equally something that you are doomed to repeat considering your mindset is "fixed" on the belief that you tin't improve.

Yous can find out how to develop a growth mindset with our article, Dweck'southward Stock-still and Growth Mindsets.

Note:

A learning opportunity is non the same as an alibi for careless behavior!

Rather, admitting to your mistakes and showing that you have learned from them can assistance others to understand that making mistakes is OK. That is, as long as yous act intelligently, in proficient religion, and go along your hazard-taking within agreed boundaries.

Model this arroyo to encourage your people to accept responsible risks, and to exist more creative.

3. Analyze Your Fault

Next, you need to analyze your mistake honestly and objectively. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What was I trying to do?
• What went wrong?
• When did it become wrong?
• Why did it get incorrect?

Our article, 5 Whys, describes a straightforward yet powerful tool for identifying the causes of uncomplicated or moderately difficult issues. To employ it, start with the error and go on asking "Why?" until y'all get to the root cause.

For complex or more disquisitional bug, a more in-depth tool, such as Causal Factor Charting, may be more appropriate.

Conducting this "postmortem" should reveal what led to the error, and highlight what needs to modify in social club to avoid a repeat.

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iv. Put Lessons Learned Into Practice

The danger at this stage is that piece of work pressures force you lot dorsum to your routine tasks and habitual behaviors. The lessons that yous identified in Pace three could languish, unfulfilled, every bit mere skillful intentions. In other words, learning lessons is one thing, but putting them into exercise is quite some other!

Chances are, acting on what you lot've learned volition crave the discipline and motivation to alter your habits, or to change the style that your squad works. Doing so will help yous to avoid cocky-demolition in the future, and will allow you to reap the rewards and benefits of implementing amend piece of work practices.

Here, you lot need to identify the skills, knowledge, resources, or tools that will keep you from repeating the fault.

Do so with intendance, though, because "quick fixes" volition likely lead to farther mistakes. Any deportment that y'all accept to implement your learning need to be enduring, and something that yous can commit to.

If your mistake was a pocket-sized or a personal one, personal goals and activity plans will lay the groundwork for implementing the lessons you lot've learned. They can requite y'all a timescale to work to, and a listing of the tasks that y'all'll need to complete.

The specific tools that you lot use from there on will depend on the item lessons that you need to put into do.

For instance, if you learned that a fault occurred considering of your forgetfulness, aides-mémoire or greater attending to detail could help. If you establish that your organizational skills were beneath par, digital planners and spreadsheets would be useful.

Or, if y'all discovered that an error occurred because of a cross-cultural misunderstanding, your communication skills might need a polish.

If the mistake was more organizational than personal, you may need to implement your learning in a more far-reaching manner. Writing clearer procedures, for case, could assistance to ensure that more gets washed without mistakes.

Understanding Zenger and Folkman'southward 10 Fatal Leadership Flaws could help to tackle errors from the top. In fact, not learning from mistakes is one of the 10 flaws, and providing clear and specific feedback is one way to counter this flaw.

And, if yous learned that your new production wasn't distinctive enough to be successful, yous may need to revisit your whole strategy.

Tip 1:

Learning from mistakes, and putting that learning into exercise, involves change. If that modify will impact other people, the ADKAR Change Management Model could help you lot to get them "on board" – and to keep them there.

Tip 2:

Don't be afraid to ask colleagues or your manager for help if y'all're unsure which tactic or tool volition be the most constructive in preventing further mistakes.

Involving other people is a great style to make them feel invested – and it tin can be peculiarly important when mistakes are fabricated at a team or organizational level. So, foster an surroundings where people feel comfortable nearly expressing their ideas.

five. Review Your Progress

You may have to endeavour out several ways to put your learning into practice before you notice one that successfully prevents you lot from repeating past errors. The Programme-Do-Check-Act wheel is a great tool for pinpointing the most effective solutions.

From there, monitor the efficacy of your chosen tactic by reviewing the number and nature of mistakes that do – or don't! – still become made. Asking someone to hold you accountable can aid yous to stay committed to your new course of activity.

Key Points

To err is human, and we don't have to punish ourselves for the mistakes that we make. They can be corking opportunities to learn, and to develop on a personal, as well equally an organizational, level. We just need to learn from them, and to put that learning into practice.

When y'all, or one of your team members, make a mistake:

• Ain up to it. Don't play the "blame game." This is detrimental in the long run, and y'all'll lose the potential for learning.
• Reframe your mistake as an opportunity to learn and develop.
• Review what went wrong, to understand and learn from your error.
• Identify the skills, knowledge, resource, or tools that will proceed you from repeating the error.
• Review your progress.

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Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/learn-from-mistakes.htm

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