To Err is Human
Intuition said: It just doesn’t look right.
Curiosity said: I wonder why.
Inquiring said: Let’s take a deeper look.
Adaptable said: Okay, we made a mistake, but we can fix it.
Making a mistake is part of being human and they come with different levels of consequence. There are some mistakes that we never want to make and it is important that we have systems and processes in place to avoid these.
Most mistakes we make aren’t critical and we’re left to make a judgement on how important it is to go back and re-do things correctly or to move forward with it as a lesson.
Either way, how we deal with mistakes, both personally and with our teams, says a lot. Allowing our inner perfectionist to admonish any errors, or treating mistakes made by the team as failures doesn’t stop a mistake happening again. More likely is that it will generate shame and negative self-talk, and our teams will stop looking for ways to innovate and change.
When we do find a mistake, let’s start with Empathy’s words: to err is human.