Everyone makes mistakes, even accountants!

But what do you do when it happens to you? Do you analyse what went wrong and make sure you don’t repeat it? Or do you try to cover it up? And how do you react when someone in your team makes a mistake?

The way you deal with mistakes can make a significant difference to the success of your practice.

I’m sure we’ve all worked in businesses where making an error meant a telling off from the boss, often in full view of your colleagues, along with a feeling of utter humiliation. And of course, such a horrible experience leads to everyone covering up their mistakes, desperate to avoid that situation at all costs.

What happens then?

Well, while one individual might learn not to make the same mistake twice, others won’t even know about it. So they’ll carry on making the same mistake, since if one person made it, it’s likely others will too. The opportunity to improve is lost.

But what if the whole team could learn from the experience? Because that’s the key to the power of mistakes. As Eleanor Roosevelt wisely said: ‘Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.’

A culture that welcomes mistakes

Imagine a workplace culture where everyone shares their mistakes without fear of judgement. And doing this doesn’t make them feel incompetent, because the whole team focuses on identifying ways to make sure it can’t happen again.

When something goes wrong, the team first looks at the root cause. Is the technology at fault and do you need to change it or use it differently? Was the person responsible simply overwhelmed and distracted? If so, how can their workload be reduced?

Once the root cause is established, the system or checklist for that task gets updated for everyone. So the message isn’t just, ‘Let’s be more careful in future.’ It’s, ‘Let’s make this better for everyone.’

But creating this type of environment has to begin with the partner(s). If the only mistakes that get discussed are made by the more junior members of the team, they could feel they’re being picked on. And the senior members may feel that the more senior they are, the more infallible they should be. Both those scenarios will lead to an unwillingness to be open and honest.

So don’t let your ego get in the way! Personally, I find that my team really get behind me when I’m open about a mistake and are incredibly supportive in coming up with great ideas to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  

Show that you’re human by sharing your mistakes (anonymously if necessary) and opening up team discussions for improvements. Put mechanisms in place to make sure that the solutions you come up with are implemented.

Growing through our mistakes

This article has focused on eliminating mistakes in terms of processes and operations. But there’s another important element that I want to emphasise. 

We grow through our mistakes. They help us learn about ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses, how we react to difficult situations. If we got everything right first time, where would we get the drive to innovate? How would we develop resilience?

Just as importantly, our own mistakes help us have empathy with others. Accept that we all mess up at some point, and focus on putting things right, rather than playing the blame game.