Avionics News October 2012 - 66

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BUSINESS BASICS
B Y G R E G L A S L O

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How to Recover From Mistakes

hoever said the only things certain are death and TO ERR IS HUMAN taxes was dead wrong. He or she failed to include You value the quality of your work and your shop, and mistakes. this is a big part of why it’s so hard to admit you messed It probably was just an oversight. After all, stuff hapup. Ego is the biggest reason we keep making mistakes. pens, and it’s not so much a matter of “if,” but “when.” Solving this requires some consideration of why we err, “Everybody makes mistakes, that’s the reality,” said the nature of our mistakes and how we can overcome our strategic-communications consultant Michelle Drake. fear of fault. “How you handle them defines whether you’re viewed as Indeed, smart people occasionally do bone-headed competent or incompetent.” things, perhaps due to a lack To be sure, we’re doing busiof concentration, poor decisionness in a time ripe for errors, making, improper use of resourc“THE BEST WAY TO COME where fewer employees do more es, spotty communication, incorOUT LOOKING GREAT AFTER rect assumptions, or even overwork with less support. While some of these may lead to innostretched work priorities. These A MISTAKE IS TO OWN IT. vative breakthroughs – “brilliant errors of will are harder to premistakes,” according to Paul vent than errors of skill, which RIP THE BAND-AID OFF, Schoemaker, a researcher at the we fix with appropriate training, Wharton School of Business – AND THEN FIGURE OUT because admitting a performance most need to be identified and mishap doesn’t come naturally. HOW YOU FIX THE WOUND.” fixed before they cause bigger “But, if you don’t expose it to problems. someone, how are you going to “The mistake is not all about get feedback on ways to courseMICHELLE DRAKE, you if it’s in the workplace,” correct?” said Mitchell Kusy, STRATEGIC-COMMUNICATIONS Drake said. “It’s about the orgaa professor of leadership and CONSULTANT nization, and how you protect it.” change at Antioch University. Getting there requires your shop Effective leaders excel at ownbe tuned for dealing with the inevitable, with a culture that ing up, according to the research behind Kusy’s book, allows you to move past a mishap, regardless of whether it Breaking the Code of Silence. In fact, he said it’s a critical occurs on the administrative or technical side of the house. competency. “It’s a skill that can be learned,” he said. “It’s Consider the nature of business mistakes and the process for beyond just pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.” making them right with colleagues and clients, and underOf course, errors come in a variety of degrees, gauged stand that not preparing is the biggest mistake of all. by the damage they cause, but big goofs usually come
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Avionics News October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News October 2012