Ever make a mistake at work?
If you answered “No.” to this question you’re lying. Admit it! No one is perfect and mistakes happen. But, you know what else? It’s okay to make mistakes.
While we are all ingrained with this fear of failure, we have something to tell you that could change your whole outlook on life…without failure, there’d be no success.
We all need to make mistakes so we know what the joy of success feels like. But, we understand how you feel about making a mistake at work. What’s my boss going to think? What will my coworkers say? Will I be disciplined?
But we have some news for you, sometimes the making of the mistake isn’t something your manager will spend too much time thinking about; the boss usually dwells more on how he was told about the mistake and how you intend to fix it. So in order to make a good impression on your manager—make sure you right your wrongs in the right way.
Recently more than 4,000 business professionals, across the Beyond.com Network of thousands of niche career sites, took a poll that asked, “If you make a mistake at work, how do you usually handle it?” And we’re happy to know that more than 92 percent of professionals said that they take ownership and make things right, but what about that other 8 percent?
If you fall into the 8 percent that either blames someone else, covers it up before someone notices, or denies responsibility—here are five tips that will help you remedy any mistake that you may make while on the job.
1. Admit that you made a mistake. As soon as you realize that you’ve made a mistake, tell your boss. Admitting that you made a mistake will show your manager that you have the confidence to own up to your mistakes and he will in turn respect your honesty.
2. Tell your manager what and how it happened. While it seems like we’re all moving at 100 miles per hour, if you make a mistake you should take the time to figure out why it happened so you can prevent it from happening in the future. Once you figure out what happened let your manager know. He’ll feel good knowing that you both understand the oversight.
3. Present a plan to solve the problem. Bosses like nothing more than having employees that can take initiative. So if for some reason you do make a mistake—when you tell your manager come prepared with a plan for correcting it. Let them know how long it will take to correct and any costs involved.
4. Correct your mistake on your own time. If you make a mistake and need to take time to correct it—do so on your own time. If you need to work late or work through your lunch as a result don’t expect overtime.
5. Don’t dwell on the past. We all make mistakes, even your boss, so don’t beat yourself up about it. Learn from it and move on.
Mistakes are inevitably going to happen in the workplace, but if you approach each mistake as an opportunity and not a defeat you’ll be surprised as to how your will boss respond. Who knows, these mistakes might be your ticket to a corner office.
