You’re swamped and doing your best to tackle the back-to-back phone calls, manage the overflow of emails and juggle meetings- then it happens. You mess up. Truthfully, nothing compares to that gut wrenching feeling you get when you make a mistake at work. Although the act only makes you human, how you handle the situation is the real test. We went ahead and broke down 4 steps to help recover and bounce back!
Step 1: Take Responsibility
Once the mistake is made, OWN IT! It's easy to make excuses or blame others, but that will only make the problem worse than it already is. Remember, you aren’t the first person to make a mistake at work, and you most definitely won’t be the last.
Acknowledge what happened and let it go. Take a walk if you need to. Do whatever works for you to refocus. Forgiving yourself will allow you to bounce back quickly.
Step 2: Forgive yourself & Apologize
If you’re anything like us then the natural response is to beat yourself up. Forgiveness is vital in recovering and breaking the momentum of future mistakes. Again, you are only human and sometimes mistakes just happen. Apologize if you need to but be mindful not to overdo it. Make it sincere and move on.
Step 3: Allow yourself to learn from the mistake
Learning from your mistakes will only make you a stronger employee and a better person. Taking responsibility is a commitment to improve yourself. Take it one step further and check-in with your superior to see how you can improve.
Step 4: Accept it & Move on
Dwelling on a mistake not only prevents you from seeing past the mistake, but also wastes valuable time. Evaluate and take action in fixing what went wrong. Also, what was the reason behind the mistake happening in the first place? Were you taking on too many responsibilities all at once? Did you not know how to properly execute the project? Were you feeling a lot of pressure in getting the job done? Whatever it was, evaluate it and write down how in the future you can avoid problems in similar circumstances. Then just simply...move on.