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Oops! Five Ways to Recover After You've Made a Leadership Mistake

Alan Andersen

As a coach, it is my constant quest to help leaders lead well. All leaders at some point will make a mistake...And when that happens, it is vital that you immediately work on regaining trust, communication and influence with your team. How you may ask?

Ron Edmundson has some great tips below that are brief and effective. It will take clarity, courage and character to take the next step, but it will be worth it! 

Your Coach,

 


5 Suggestions to Recover after You’ve Made a Leadership Mistake
by Ron Edmundson

Communicate quickly – You don’t have to tell the world, but those who need to know should hear it from you and not from anyone else. Let the offended parties know and the people who will have to answer for the mistake. This can’t be done too soon. Surprises like this never turn out well, but with advance knowledge many times further damage can be averted
 
Own it – Don’t make excuses. Don’t pretend it didn’t happen. Don’t blame others. Don’t say, “I’m sorry”, but then try to wrap the other person into your story. Ask forgiveness if necessary, but own it now. You made a mistake. Be a leader. Own the mistake and be willing to accept the consequences. You’ll be far more respected and stand a better chance of bridging support in the recovery process.
 
Stop the loss – Do whatever you can to stop further damaging from occurring. If there are financial issues involved, try to recover as much as you can. If there is collateral damage with relationships, apologize quickly and try to restore trust. I have always found a humble, yet not martyred, but confident response is usually best in these situations.
 
Figure out what’s next – Help the team recover. Find solutions. Don’t leave the clean up to anyone else. As you lead into the mistake — or even better — lead through the recovery. Help bring people together, seek wisdom, and help steer energy back to a more positive position.
 
Learn from it – The best thing you can do is to grow from mistakes — all of them. They can shape us as people and leaders — either positively or negatively. The good news is that we get to decide which one. In the process of recovery, sometimes keeping a journal is helpful. Start with the question, “What can I learn from this that will help me make better decisions in the future?”
 
Of course, the intensity of need for this depends on the size of the mistake and the size of injury caused to the team or organization, but the principles still apply in context.
 
Do you have any examples to add to this post from your own experience?

Adapted from its original text.

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