Are You Making Valuable Mistakes?

Photo by Fozzman

If you're leading and moving forward, you're not going to get every decision right. 

Fear of making a mistake can paralyze new leaders. One way to overcome this fear is to realize that so called "mistakes" are a huge leadership opportunity.

The important thing is to make your mistakes valuable - to use them for all they're worth:

• Treat new projects as experiments. This gives you and your team room to try and learn without the pressure of perfection.
• When you do experience mistakes, examine the situation for what it has to teach you. 
• What happened that you didn't expect?
• Is it likely to happen again?
• How can you adjust your approach in the future?
• Try not to make the same mistake twice. Your real life experiences are the best leadership text book you'll ever have...but it's up to you to apply the lessons.
• Don't obsess on the past. Rather, focus on what you'll do next time. 
• Try re-framing "mistakes" as learning opportunities. If you honestly did your best to gather relevant information, got your team involved, and moved forward ethically, and it didn't work out - odds are it's not a mistake - it's an opportunity to learn how to be more effective next time!
• If you really did screw up and let down others: Apologize and do what you can to make it right. This doesn't undermine your leadership - you actually improve your leadership credibility and trustworthiness in these situations.

You can't lead without taking risks. 

Make informed, thought-out decisions with your team...but give yourself room to learn everything you can when it doesn't go the way you hope!

Read More:

That Didn't Work Out

Get Out of Your Own Way

Nine Ways to Access the World's Best Leadership Resource!

Four Habits to Make Better Decisions

Six Ways to Not Walk Naked Down the Street

Take care,

David M. Dye

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David shares twenty years experience teaching, coaching, leading, and managing in youth service, education advocacy, city governance, and faith-based nonprofits. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Colorado UpLift and enjoys helping others discover and realize their own potential.