Managers and leaders: can you share a time that you made a mistake, and owned up to it?

8 Comments

1. Monica NunezJanuary 12,2022 at 2:01PM UTC

   Darn near daily and it's easier to admit than pretend perfection

2. AnonymousJanuary 12,2022 at 2:19PM UTC

   I made someone cry once. I made a volunteer cry and I felt terrible. I had served as a volunteer coordinator for several years. I gave plenty of notice, but after I stepped down, the job remained unfilled for some time. As in many understaffed non-profits, the job duties were temporarily shifted to a remaining employee. At any rate, I continued on as a volunteer for this organization and would, in a pinch, still do a little coordinating. I felt resentful about it, though, frankly, because I had already stepped down from the paid position. While I did not yell, I was impatient with a new volunteer and made her cry. Then, she in turn, made someone else cry. It was a domino effect of resentment and tears that day! I apologized to the new person for my short-temper and then comforted the second person when I found her in tears, too.

3. Barb HansenJanuary 12,2022 at 8:35PM UTC

   Since I am a human as well as a manager, I make mistakes, and I admit to them. Depending on the size of the mistake (as not every mistake needs a full post-mortem), I acknowledge the mistake, apologize to those affected (personally and in a team settings), expose my thinking (nor non-thinking) that lead to the mistake, and open the discussion to plan a remedy.

   Mistakes are an opportunity for learning, and a good manager knows that.

4. Kristie WhiteJanuary 13,2022 at 5:26PM UTC

   If you want your staff and co-workers to respect you and be truthful with you, you have to respect them and be truthful with them.

   I was a project manager on a high-pressure project once - an acquisition. Everything was at breakneck speed. When the acquired company was shutting down, on the last day one of my key resources was leaving on time to join all of her colleagues who were having one last drink after work. I hadn't realized be/c it had been ok'd by my associate. When I did, I blew up and was very upset. Just at that moment, my phone rang (Thank God!) I stepped away and it turned out to be the tech project manager. I was still fuming, but he talked me down and made me see that I was being unreasonable. Of COURSE, she wanted to spend her last day with her friends and co-workers - and she should. With egg on my face, after the call, I marched into the office she shared with my associate who had approved it - and I apologized. I told her I just lost my temper because she was such a valuable player, but of course - I was wrong, she absolutely should spend that time with her coworkers. I had realized what was more important - the priority that she have a chance to say goodbye to her associates - rather than this project. It didn't matter whether filling in for her was hard or not, that was the priority. The amazing thing was her shock that a supervisor could apologize. After I left, my associate told me she was totally surprised that I would recognize her need instead of my own as the priority. So - yes - "be the change you seek" as Gandhi said.

5. Lisa WernauJanuary 13,2022 at 10:59PM UTC

   Apologize sooner than later. They will respect you for it.

6. Emily KeiperJanuary 14,2022 at 2:34AM UTC

   Honestly I’ve made plenty of mistakes but open communication and calling it out immediately to my teams always turns things around. No one is perfect but having a leader that is able to say, “I was wrong” and own up to it/learn from it and move forward, makes a world of difference.

7. AnonymousJanuary 14,2022 at 7:02PM UTC

   It Depends on your boss. Some of them collect your mistakes and then they only see you for that mistake. I years of successful projects, then one issue. He continued to remind me of that issue when when it is totally out of context.

   Get a boss that views mistakes as a learning.

8. Candy RenJanuary 15,2022 at 6:08AM UTC

   It depends on company culture you work with. If someone get unsafe to share or own up to his or her mistake, the employer need to take a hard look on the company culture. If I feel safe to do so, I will! I feel safe to do so now at my work!