Tips on how to Avoid Making Mistakes at Work
There will always be mistakes made in the working environment. The importance of mistakes is that they should be an eye opener that prompts you to look at your own limits and shortcomings. To avoid making the same mistakes in the future, it is important that you learn from the mistake so you do not keep repeating the same mistake. Take a look at how you could have improve yourself or what you could have done better. Avoiding mistakes in the future becomes your responsibility to prevent it from happening again.
Focus on your responsibility
It is important for you to focus on what your role played in the mistake that occurred. Steer away from looking at what other individuals did or didn't do. There is always a natural tendency to blame others, just remain focused on what part your contributed to the mistake. When you remain focused on your part in the mistake, you will be able to look at what you did or what you failed to. This information will provide you with what you need and how you will change your actions to avoid the mistake from reoccurring.
Seek opinions from individuals in your work environment
In the workplace it can be useful to talk about your mistake with other individuals in your organization. Always keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes, and if you are willing to share your mistake, other individuals in your organization may become more comfortable about sharing their mistakes with you. This will give you insight on how they managed the mistake from reoccurring again. Sharing is an open opportunity to learn valuable information from other individuals mistakes.
Defensiveness
When you are approached by someone in your organization about a mistake that occurred, a smart decision is to listen to their concerns and feelings about the incident. This is a time you may want to defend yourself, but it a wiser decision to just hold back and listen. The important part of the conversation to take away is that you fully understood what they told you. Afterwards it is a time to reflect on their feedback and decide what information is useful and where you could make changes to avoid the mistake in the future.
Self examine
On the other hand, if you have a behavior of becoming defensive, it is vital that you examine why you are having difficulty in taking responsibility for your mistakes. If you fail to fix yourself, you will not be able to avoid mistakes in the future. It is important to understand that no one is perfect and you do not need to always be right about everything. Getting emotional when you are confronted about a mistake is not productive for the organization or yourself.
Ownership
Successful individuals do not fear mistakes, they take the time to examine and learn from their mistake. They take ownership for what part they had in the mistake and learn what they need to do differently. When you understand what led to the mistake, you can make the decision how you will respond in a positive manner. Always keep in mind the politics in your organization, they are sometimes a business culture that may have be part of the mistake. If the business culture is a contributing factor, arm yourself to address them in a proactive manner in the future. You will always be faced with situations where mistakes happen, the best action is to prepare yourself and always learn from the mistake.
