The Manager - Edition 68 - Owning mistakes - By Rob Lambert
The Manager - Edition 68
Hi and welcome to this week's "The Manager" - a weekly newsletter with the goals of:
Helping you to balance the Pillars of Life
Helping you be effective AND liked
Helping you release agility in your team through effective management
If you enjoyed this newsletter and you think someone else would benefit from it, then please feel free to share it. Even if it's to your own manager :)
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Thanks
Rob..
This week I've been mostly thinking about:
Taking ownership of mistakes
In my work and personal life I keep making mistakes. It's been something of a pattern for me for much of my life. But I always found it hard to admit my mistakes at work.
It is hard, as a manager (and human) to admit, accept and tell others that you've made a mistake.
To stand in front of them and explain the mistake, how it happened and show your team that you're vulnerable, human and capable of making mistakes.
It's really hard. Harder for some people than others.
It's hard because there's a chance people will lose trust in you. You might be worried they'll think you're not competent, or you don't know what you're doing. Or that maybe other managers will play political moves with your failure.
Or that your boss will think you're not good at what you do.
But here's the reality from my experience:
Most managers have no idea what they're doing. I didn't, and to be honest, in many situations I still don't. Very few managers do. Those that say they know what they're doing are likely not solving new problems, covering up performance and relationships problems and putting on a front.
Showing that you make mistakes shows that you're human. People will respect you more.
Your boss will likely respect the fact you owned the mistake and dealt with it (you are dealing with it right?). If they don't, do you really want to work for them?
By making a mistake and explaining what happened you open the door for others to try new things and make mistakes too. Just be sure to treat them as you would wish to be treated.
By learning from the mistake you have a chance to make the world of work (and yourself) better. People will see this and copy your behaviours - lead by example.
If others managers play political moves - let them. In the end you'll have a strong team who can push boundaries and learn - and your people will likely have strong trust you. Your team will continue to grow and perform well.
People will not think you're incompetent for most mistakes - just don't keep making them, or the same one over and over again. Make sure any experiments you make are small in consequence.
By being honest you are showing others that open and honest communication are key.
Go forth and be honest about mistakes. Take ownership.
Rob
BOOK OF THE WEEK
No book of the week this week - still working through about 5 at the same time.......it's not working well for me.....things will change.
Cultivated Content Of The Week
This week's content I reckon you'll enjoy.
1 - Selfie Deaths are on the increase. Sad read, but intriguing.
2 - Tech comes to a school - and there's a rebellion against it. Silicon Valley might be losing yet more of its charm.
3 - Music and productivity have always had a link. Here's a good article explaining some of these links.
4 - How computer code knows what you'll type next. Scary.
5 - Total Work - and whether life would be worth living if all we did was work.
6 - I'm a year in to work and I deserve a promotion. The rookies asking for promotion.
7 - Training themselves to be less busy helped this person avoid burnout.
8 - Show your customers how busy and hard you're working for them - Operational Transparency. I suspect most companies would struggle to be honest about what actually happens behind the scenes.
9 - 12 Ways to accept yourself.