As of: March 23, 2024, 8:56 a.m
By: Natalie Hull-Deichsel
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Mistakes happen to everyone at work, and as we all know, we learn from them.
And yet you often have the fear that serious consequences will follow - especially during the probationary period.
You recently started a new job.
Training is tiring and stressful; you have to mentally absorb, classify and understand a lot of new information and processes.
You just don't want to do anything wrong.
But then it happens anyway: you make a mistake.
How should and can you deal with this now?
Confess or should I say nothing?
If deadlines are not met, incorrect agreements are passed on or an important project is in danger of failing due to your behavior, then there is great concern and fear that the superior will find out about your mistake.
Error-prone situations and decisions occur in companies and departments every day.
Ultimately, fear of making mistakes in everyday professional life not only affects employees during their probationary period; experienced colleagues also know this feeling and know how to react to it wisely.
Why mistakes are important at work and how you should deal with them despite your fear.
Growing personally through failure at work: Why making mistakes is important
Mistakes at work can happen to anyone and even serve for personal development.
© Zoonar.com/Yuri Arcurs peopleimages.com/Imago
If you want your life and job to always go according to plan, you should write your own obituary and try to live up to it or act accordingly.
What US investor Warren Edward Buffett is telling others initially seems difficult to implement.
Because life and work are always exposed to external influences to which you have to react - in some situations you may not do this as expected or desired.
And then they happen, unpleasant mistakes.
The same goes for work.
What often follows are feelings such as shame and fear.
Nobody feels comfortable when something has gone wrong in a project or team because of their own actions - especially not when there are serious consequences and their good reputation is at stake.
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It always depends on the error culture in the respective company.
According to
the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK)
, a positive or open error culture is characterized by the fact that superiors in companies actively deal with errors and analyze them without assigning blame in order to further develop skills and processes.
Ultimately, everyone develops their individual skills by making mistakes and acknowledging them without devaluation.
Making mistakes is human, mistakes can happen to anyone and even have a meaning.
Because they show individuals what they should, for example, rethink and rework.
Trying things out is essential for innovation and progress in your career.
A positive error culture serves experience and helps to develop new solutions and make learning progress.
So you learn from mistakes in every respect.
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If you actually make a mistake, you should not give in to possible self-doubt, but rather be open about it.
Ultimately, it is not important to consider “whether” someone needs to be informed about your error, but rather “who” should be informed about it.
Simply ignoring the mistake could increase the difficulties and, in serious cases, even lead to immediate termination and leave you with a persistent bad conscience.
It can often be helpful to inform a teammate about the alleged error and get their advice on what the best way to minimize the damage could be, as the online portal
t3n
recommends.
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However, if you are unable to correct the error yourself or with the help of the team, your superior should always be informed.
Especially if, for example, customers or partners are affected by the error, company guidelines or even laws are violated.
In the event of an alleged mishap at work, you should:
Take a deep breath and keep calm.
Determine and analyze the possible error.
Accept the mistake.
Reflect on what happened and draw conclusions.
Consider possible damage limitation.
Communicate the error and possible mitigation to a teammate or supervisor.