We’ve all made mistakes in our work; they’re unavoidable. But how you respond to those mistakes can make all the difference. Today, @lornerubis shares an example of a recent situation where he approached the problem using self-accountability, and I weigh in on the lessons we can get from his story.
When things go wrong, our first instinct is to protect ourselves, especially in team environments. No one wants to be wrong, so we search for reasons outside of ourselves to explain what happened. But wouldn’t it be cool if, rather than pointing fingers, we all took a moment after a mistake to ask ourselves: How can we do this better? What could I have done? And, What does the team think?
Embracing self-accountability can be a powerful way to elevate your organizational culture. Instead of treating mistakes as failures, what if we treated them as opportunities to learn as a team? When you remove blame from the conversation, the walls come down and the solutions come up.
As a leader, you shouldn’t feel the need to own every mistake that your team makes. That attitude can rob your team of its agency. Instead of taking ownership, focus on what you could have done differently and encourage your colleagues to think about how they too could have changed the situation.
Here are three key takeaways from today’s episode:
- Rather than instructing outwards, first as yourself, “What could I have done about this?”
- Be genuine when owning your mistakes, and show your people that you truly see the mistake as an opportunity to grow. Ask your team, “What do you think we can do?”
- Stay humble. Humility allows us to ask a simple question, “How can we do this better?”
Here’s to disrupting sameness and achieving #betterwork.
Lynette
