How To Recover From Mistakes At Work

If you're prepared to experiment, stretch the boundaries of your knowledge and challenge status quo – you will make mistakes. This is not to say that mistakes are only made when we go beyond our comfort zone. Mistakes can be made even in everyday, straightforward and mundane tasks. In some cases, your mistakes may go unnoticed. In other cases, they become glaring — making you seem incompetent or careless at best. How do you recover from such ego-battering situations? How do you get your boss to have renewed confidence in you again? How do you get up the next day with a promise to give in 100% without looking back?

This article contains 3 central ideas on how to handle mistakes:

1. Admit to what has happened and apologize for it.

2. Don't lie about the mistake, take steps to conceal it or play the blame game. Let your boss see that you genuinely understand what went wrong and are taking the required steps to correct the mistake.

3. Don't let the thought of what has happened prevent you from moving on with your work. It's easy to get bogged down by the memory of your mistakes or the thought of getting fired. Don't let these thoughts prevent you from forgiving yourself. Do exactly what your boss has already done – Forgive you.

Attribution

"Oops And Right Icon" by digital art picture/Freedigitalphotos.net