Mistakes are inevitable, in life and in business. Mistakes aren’t problems but how we respond to them can be, and mindset plays a crucial role in how we respond to mistakes. Mindfulness, emotional intelligence, self-awareness and group psychological safety support good decision making and realizing effective responses when faced with mistakes and challenges.
We know that without self-awareness and self-management tools, feelings of guilt or shame can lead to harmful ways of addressing errors. Self-compassion, equipping yourself with a positive mindset can transform handling mistakes into moments that prove your leadership skills and enhance the psychological safety of your workplace culture. This is easier said than done. To help you on this journey, we've gathered insights in this post from some of our favorite leadership experts. By learning from their perspectives on leadership and failure, you can develop the habits necessary for a positive mindset starting today and get to know the concepts that help shape HRO Core’s guiding principles.
Chade-Meng Tan
Chade-Meng Tan is a former Google engineer, best known for being one of the founders of the "Search Inside Yourself’ Leadership program, which focuses on mindfulness and emotional intelligence in the workplace.
Chade-Meng Tan approaches mistakes from a mindfulness and emotional intelligence perspective. He advocates for leaders to practice self-compassion and awareness when dealing with errors. By staying present and non-judgmental, leaders can learn from their mistakes without being overwhelmed by them. This mindful approach encourages a balanced and thoughtful response to challenges, intentionally prioritizing self-regulation and non-judgmental awareness. Leaders who embody these qualities can create a more thoughtful and supportive workplace culture and experience the calm that comes with thoughtfully engaging with mindfulness techniques.
Eric Mosley
Eric Mosley is the CEO and co-founder of Workhuman, a company focused on creating human-centered workplaces through employee recognition and engagement.
Mosley emphasizes that making mistakes is an integral part of the innovation process. He views errors not as failures but as opportunities for growth and development. Leaders should create a culture of recognition, where both successes and failures are acknowledged and celebrated as both can be the result of trying to think outside of the box. This philosophy prioritizes and generates continuous improvement, allowing individuals and teams to learn and grow while being surrounded by positivity. Mosley believes that transparency and trust are critical. By openly acknowledging mistakes, leaders build authenticity within their teams, enhancing employee engagement and cultivating a safe environment for innovation and creativity.
Brené Brown
Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, known for her work on vulnerability, courage and empathy. Her TED Talk "The Power of Vulnerability" is one of the most-watched talks on TED.com.
Brown highlights the importance of vulnerability in leadership. Admitting mistakes is a key component of authentic and courageous leadership. By owning up to errors, leaders build resilience and build an environment of trust and empathy within their teams. Vulnerable leaders create a culture where team members feel safe to take risks and innovate. This approach aligns with her concepts of wholehearted living, where leaders integrate vulnerability and authenticity into their leadership style, promoting a culture of openness and mutual support.
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist and author, best known for his work on emotional intelligence. His book "Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ" popularized EI and explores the role of EI in personal and professional success.
Goleman emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in handling mistakes. Leaders with high emotional intelligence can manage their own emotions and those of their team effectively when mistakes occur. Demonstrating empathy and self-regulation, they create an environment where mistakes are openly discussed and used as learning opportunities. Social skills are crucial in this context, as effective communication about errors builds a culture of learning and development. By integrating emotional intelligence into their leadership approach, leaders can turn mistakes into valuable growth experiences for themselves and their teams.
Inspired Actionable Steps
Putting these insights into action is great in theory, but where and how to be more effective in practicing them might not be clear to you. Here are the five actionable steps inspired by these experts to help you navigate mistakes effectively in real situations:
Be Transparent. Acknowledge mistakes openly, honestly and publically. This builds trust and shows your team that it's okay to make errors and leaves no room for miscommunication between coworkers. Consider how much harder it would be to resolve a mistake that a team member made silently months ago. It’s always better to own up immediately, especially to demonstrate the potential positive results of a mistake to your team.
Practice Non-Judgmental Awareness of Your Emotional Reactions. Recognize your feelings about mistakes without judgment and remember that your emotions are physiological responses and are separate from you. It’s important to recognize that while you might feel disappointed in yourself, your mistakes do not define you or your capabilities, your value or worthiness to be in your role. Letting your mistakes impact your sense of self can cause you to feel combative or defensive and is not conducive to finding a solution or creating a comfortable team culture.
Outline Lessons Learned. Analyze the mistake to understand what went wrong at the root. You want to establish how this mistake can inform future actions, not place blame on specific people. It’s important to remember that these ‘silver linings’ should not be discussed as a replacement for taking ownership. If you forgot to discuss a critical aspect of a project, you might suggest that the team implement a better communication system. If you neglected to follow up with a client, you might suggest that certain tasks are delegated more evenly across the team. If you showed up late, you might suggest the possibility of hybrid meetings. These possibilities highlight your dedication to preventing the problem from arising in the future and
Encourage a Culture of Continual Mistake Discussion. Build an environment where mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities rather than failures by regularly discussing mistakes from very minor miscommunications to large detrimental mistakes. You might integrate a scheduled time in team debriefs where team members can discuss mistakes they’ve noticed and create a low risk opportunity to brainstorm the learning outcome together.
Practice Ongoing Self-Compassion. Treat yourself with kindness when you make mistakes. This mindset helps you recover and learn more effectively. Take a moment to remind yourself that everyone makes mistakes and it's a part of the growth process. You might think you already know this, and you probably do, but it’s a different thing altogether to actually feel like it’s true. Repeating compassionate words to yourself over and over can help it become a reflective habit and limit the work you have to do in the future to redirect your mindset.
See mistakes as stepping stones toward greater success and development. We hope that the next time you make a mistake, you might even be happy about it!