Handling mistakes case study:
“When Disneyland opened in 1955, it was a disaster. Although 15,000 visitors were expected, nearly twice as many descended upon the park, thanks to thousands of counterfeit tickets. Guests were plagued by long lines, malfunctioning rides, and a shortage of food. To top it all off, a tiger and a panther escaped from the circus, terrifying children and parents on Disney’s suddenly family-unfriendly Main Street. The day having been dubbed ‘Black Sunday’ by his employees, Walt Disney took it all in stride. ‘If you do big things, you make big mistakes,’ he told reporters.” (From the excellent book Lessons from the Mouse). Handling mistakes is important, even at Disneyland.
No one is perfect, we all make mistakes. I make mistakes everyday. If we didn’t make mistakes we’d never learn anything. What matters is what we do and don’t do after we make a mistake. Here are some ways of handling mistakes and turning things around.
You are not your mistake
When you make a mistake, keep in mind that it doesn’t define who you are as a person. Try not to jump to conclusions about your worth or value. No one’s perfect, and that’s okay.
Regroup
While you may feel like hiding out and cowering, do just the opposite. It happened, now what? Take a breath, take charge of yourself and act.
Own Up
The worst thing to do is pretend it didn’t happen and hope no one finds out. Responsible, ethical people own up to their mistakes, immediately. If you were responsible step forward, don’t make excuses or try to place blame.
Handling Mistakes:
Apologize
Everybody makes mistakes but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t apologize for them. If your mistake has caused a problem for others it is imperative you give them a sincere and meaningful apology, as soon as possible. An apology is not a sign of weakness, it is a display of strength of character. Apologies are essential to handling mistakes.
Analyze it
Think about why you made the mistake. Knowledge, execution, emotion; determine where things went wrong. If you can understand why, you can make a plan to keep it from happening again. If you need assistance to understand, get it.
Fix it if you can
Do damage control and do what you can to remedy the mistake. Learn from this. Handling mistakes by making things right and taking responsibility can be a positive experience. If you make a really big mistake, don’t feel that you have to cope with it on your own. Talk to your friends or family about it. They might just say something that sheds light on what happened and help you see the light.
Learn from it
Learning from your mistake might mean changing the way you do things. It could just mean a change of habit for you, but the change could involve other people. If so, work together to be successful. Review your changes using the Plan-Do-Check-Act process.
Plan: Recognize an opportunity and plan a change.
Do: Test the change. Carry out a small-scale study.
Check: Review the test, analyze the results, and identify what you’ve learned.
Act: put your plan into action.
Tomorrow is another day
Let go and move on. If you find yourself focusing on your mistake, practice reflection. Remind yourself that you are a good person, mistakes happen and you have done your best.
Mohammed Ali said, “It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. It matters how many times you get up”. It is not what you did, it’s how you behaved afterward. The mistake was accidental, your behavior is not. Be responsible, be professional, be grateful, allow yourself to learn from your mistake and then move on.
How have you handled mistakes? What has worked or not worked?
Related Article: Forgiving
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