The Importance of Making Mistakes
You’ve probably heard someone say it’s okay to make mistakes. But if you’re like me, the inner voice inside of you may be saying otherwise. As a business owner or leader in an organization, we don’t want to make mistakes for a variety of reasons. We may fear the judgment of other people and don’t want them to think less of us. Perhaps we don’t want to let down the people who work for us and with us. Or maybe we fear failure because we have high expectations of ourselves. All these reasons are valid, however, despite the fear or discomfort that comes with making a mistake, not only is it okay to make mistakes, but it is also important.
First, it is impossible to avoid making mistakes. The world is ever changing, business is ever changing, and we don’t know everything. If we knew everything then we wouldn’t need to start a business because a solution would already exist to solve the problem we’ve identified. As we work on solutions, we are going to find new problems and new challenges that result in new mistakes, particularly as we explore and design potential solutions. It’s inevitable - so try to accept that you can’t avoid every mistake!
The desire to avoid mistakes may be rooted in fear. Fear of making mistakes can be paralyzing or can result in taking action that isn’t best for the organization or prohibiting you from taking the necessary action to truly advance. This cycle is hard to get out of, thus causing you to make the same type of mistake again and again without learning from it. The paralysis takes over causing you to blindly react as opposed to recognizing a mistake, learning from it and determining how to apply this lesson in the current or future situation. Embrace the fact that mistakes happen, and business and life is a long road where sometimes you’re making progress and sometimes, you’re making mistakes. By embracing this you’ll keep moving forward.
Finally, mistakes, or setbacks, can be utilized to move you forward to a better version of your business or idea. Without each of your failures, you wouldn’t have the depth of understanding or experience that helps you persevere through. For example, consider the iterations of the iPhone. The iPhone was an amazing invention that changed how we work, live, and interact. However, with each new iPhone or software update, mistakes are made and are then corrected, modified, or updated. These iterations result in innovative additions to future iPhone models.
So, with that said, what can we do to turn mistakes into success?
First, start by acknowledging your error and reflect on:
Why did you make the error?
What went wrong?
Can you fix it? If so, how?
What did you learn from it?
Next, talk it through with anyone on your team who may be affected by the error. Discuss with them why the error occurred and what you are going to do in the future to avoid repeating the error.
Once you’ve identified the root cause and the parties affected, establish a system, regular meeting cadence or process that makes it more challenging to make a similar mistake the next time around. For example, perhaps someone on your team made a mistake impacting the ability to deliver a product or service on time. You can work with that individual to understand if they need additional support in their role, and then partner with them to implement a change to the current business process that would reduce that mistake from being made in the future. It may be that an additional meeting or touch point is required between yourself and that individual or other team members before a decision is made, or that someone needs training on a system or process. If you need support with this, consider working with a business advisor or mentor who has experience launching or running a business and can help provide sound advice.
Finally, work on developing a growth mindset. Those who have a growth mindset believe that they can learn new skills and get back up quicker after making a mistake. Injecting this mindset into your business is important because it creates an environment where people get up quicker after making a mistake. It keeps your team generating ideas and counteracts the fear that can often be associated with taking a risk or making a mistake. A growth mindset is often seen as the opposite of a fixed mindset which can limit one’s perspective, result in one making continued mistakes or living in fear.
Action into Insight: To help in developing a growth mindset, reflect each day on what you’ve failed at and learned from each day. Don’t dwell or beat yourself up but recognize what you are learning from the failure. Then recognize it may be a failure today but by reflecting on it and locking in the learning, you are working on getting better.
