‘To err is human, to forgive, divine.’ Alexander Pope might have admitted making mistakes was something intrinsically human, but it’s something we all shy away from. The social implications of making a mistake involve being ridiculed, ostracized, dragged through the mud, and more. So, it’s no wonder that many of us find it hard to move beyond our mistakes. So many people prefer to leave a group once they’ve made a big gaffe, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
At HiCounselor, we want people to make the most of their professional lives, and that won’t happen if your strategy is to run away from your mistakes. Read on to find out how to move past a professional blunder. If you’re looking for a job, contact us and let us handle the job search for you. The best part about hiring us is we only take payment after you have a job!
1. Size It Up
Sometimes when we make mistakes at work, we can really blow things up in our heads. We’ll imagine all sorts of outlandish scenarios that probably won’t happen. If you’ve ever been part of a dysfunctional setup, you might tend to magnify your mistakes. Take cues from others by either asking or assessing your mistake against theirs. Is an email typo that big a deal? Will a client cancel a deal over a social faux pas?
2. Keep Your Cool
What’s done is done. You don’t have a time machine to help you undo it. Hyperventilating over your professional blunder is only going to call attention to it. Or worse, give ammo to your work frenemies. If it hasn’t been noticed, no need to talk about it. Only mention it if it has to be corrected or all hell breaks loose. Otherwise, let it go. If anyone mentions it, you can crack a joke about it to show you’re at ease with your workplace gaffe.
3. Ask For Help
If you’ve made the kind of office gaffe that needs to be addressed, you can ask a friend or a senior for help in fixing it. Most people have made mistakes at work and are empathic about it. Someone in your office might have made a similar mistake. Ask for help so you get ideas on how to fix it and don’t feel alone and ashamed for too long. You can even use Google to find suggestions if your colleagues aren’t very forthcoming.
4. Accept Help
Often, the cringe factor gets turned up way up high in our heads when we make professional mistakes. This reduces our ability to see the solutions right under our noses. Sometimes, someone way senior or not entirely connected to your daily office life might be able to help. Upper management has spent enough time in the field to have made a number of mistakes so if they offer suggestions, listen gratefully and accept their help.
5. Don’t Overdo The Apology
Yes, you feel God-darned awful about whatever happened. Yes, you really, really want to convey how sorry you are. You can do that without groveling. Don’t offer any excuses or justifications unless you have something really good to pin the blame on. Just accept you made the workplace blunder and say you’re ready to do whatever it takes to fix it. Remember that suggestions to fix things are usually more welcome than self-flagellation.
6. Work To Fix It
If you don’t want your seniors to dwell on the work mistake you made, take steps to fix it. That way, they’ll remember your ability to step up to the plate when required rather than focus on a mistake they had to fix. A great way to re-earn people’s trust after a professional error is to do whatever you can to mend things. Even if you can’t fix the full extent of the damage done, do whatever you can do and do it proactively.
7. Change Things
When you face your workplace gaffe, try to understand what caused it. Are you sleep deprived and unable to focus on your work? Are you distracted by talkative colleagues? Do you get sluggish after lunch? Was it a part of your work tasks in which you have no interest? Whatever the case, you have to find a remedy for the behavior that caused the mistake otherwise it’s bound to occur again. And people are way less forgiving the second time around.
We hope these suggestions can help you move past your office blunder with greater ease! If you need help finding the right job for you, get in touch with the experts at HiCounselor and let them shoulder the job search part for you!
HiCounselor has forged technical advances to transform the hiring landscape for job seekers and recruiters alike. Our career accelerator program provides job seekers with coaching and mentorship from industry leaders employed at FAANG companies while recruiters ally with HiCounselor to empower their hiring strategy and hone in on the best candidates. Learn more about HiCounselor here and reach out to us on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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