4 Ways Great Leaders Handle Their Mistakes
Now, I’m not a huge cricket fan I admit, but I'd have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the ball tampering scandal rocking Australian Cricket at the moment.
Without getting into the details of what happened in that situation, I think it's a timely reminder for all of us as leaders, to think about how we react when we make a mistake or a bad decision - when we stuff up! And let’s be honest we all do.
Your leadership mistakes may not be on the world stage. Your mistakes may not be caught on camera and beamed across the globe. You may not have to front up to a national press conference about your mistake (as Steve Smith, captain of the Australian Cricket Team had to) but your mistakes can still have a huge impact on your organisation, the people you lead, and your clients. As a leader, you need a plan on what to do when things go wrong.
Often when we fail or make a mistake, we can react immediately and bring out our own ‘BEDtime’ stories.
Blame
The greatest game on earth: the blame game. It was the CEO, the Board, one of your team members, the admin staff, the client, etc. It was anyone and anything but you. When things go wrong you can panic and start to throw people under the bus to take attention away from your own culpability.
Excuses
You can come up with a million and one excuses why something hasn’t gone to plan and some of them can be very valid reasons. Bad stuff happens to good people. Often as a leader, we can make the excuse of a lack of resources: ‘I didn’t have enough people/time/money to make it happen.’
Denial
You can hide the mistake and pretend that it didn’t happen. You can sweep it under the carpet and just move on (that is until someone else eventually finds out about it!)
These BED time stories can be a default response when you feel under threat and things feel out of control. They are almost an instinctive response to protect yourself. But what’s the impact of these BEDtime responses? Ultimately, they destroy trust in your relationships and no one is going to follow a leader they can’t trust.
So, what do you do when things get tough, when you make a mistake?
CREATE SPACE
Create some space between the mistake and your response if you can. Don’t react immediately because you’ll often revert back to one of your BEDtime stories.
SELF REFLECT
Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself what happened? What did you learn from this? Fully diagnose the problem. You may need the help of a trusted colleague to fully appreciate what happened. We all have ‘blind spots’ as leaders that we find hard to see.
ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY
Step up and take accountability. Be the first to break the news - don’t hide it. Own the mistake, even if you didn’t directly cause it. Don’t minimise the problem. Be vulnerable and apologise.
TAKE ACTION
Take the necessary steps to ensure that you eliminate the risk of the same mistake happening again. Fix the initial problem and then dig a little deeper to see whether there is an issue with a larger process.
These 4 steps will build your leadership confidence and your team will see you as a leader who they can rely on and trust. Your true leadership character is shown during the tough times, so leave the BEDtime stories to one side and step up to take accountability in your leadership role. Your people will respect and admire you for it.
Midja x