Learning from mistakes

Letting Employees Learn from Their Mistakes

Do you view unintentional employee errors as learning opportunities – rather than things to criticize, attack, and punish? If not, you should! Here’s an employee perspective – a letter to you – to think about and remember:

Believe it or not, I didn’t wake up this morning thinking that my main goal for the day was to go to work and make mistakes. I really don’t like making mistakes. No one I know does. However, I believe that trying new things requires both experimentation and learning. Whether we like it or not, along with learning comes the proverbial “learning curve.” And along with that comes occasional errors. Therefore, I really need you to treat my mistakes (as long as they’re unintentional and low in negative impact) as learning opportunities instead of MAJOR performance problems.

I know that you want me to be open to change – to be willing to try new ways of doing things. And I do understand that getting behind change is truly important to the success of our business. But sometimes I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I don’t change or seem willing to step out of my status-quo comfort zone, you’re unhappy. If I do change or try something new, but don’t get it just right the first time, you’re unhappy again ... and I feel like a failure.

Can you see the tough spot I sometimes find myself in? No action can result in trouble. Less-than-perfect action often produces the same thing: trouble. In those situations, it’s generally safer to choose the lesser of two evils – to do nothing rather than risk making a mistake.Here are a few things that you can do to help me deal with this dilemma:

Assume that my mistakes are unintentional unless you have evidence to the contrary.

Don’t punish me if I’ve done the best I can.

Treat me the way you would like to be treated if you tried your best but unfortunately erred.

Constructively help me identify what I can do to avoid repeating any mistake I make.

Give me a chance to fix the problem.

If you do these, I’ll be even more willing to try new things, embrace change, and improve my overall performance. And as a result, I’ll feel good about myself ... and about you. I will feel like I’m learning and growing, and that your goal is to support me – rather than punish me.

So, if I do make a mistake, I wish you would just remember that I did so with the best
intentions. Your support will help me learn from it rather than run from it.