The thing I was supposed to do was fairly easy, but because I thought it was boring (just running around doing paperwork, no technical stuff and nothing I would consider a challenge at that time) and the vendor I was working with was doing everything to give me hard time with a seemingly simple request I eventually messed it up.

It was a time sensitive task, which wasn’t completed on time and made my manager look bad. I was sure I was going to get fired after this (I was a contractor, so simply not allocating any new tasks to me would render in effectively releasing me).

I can’t remember the exact words I used to deliver the bad news. I remember doing this during the weekend, over the phone (great idea huh – not only did I fail to do what I was supposed to, but I also messed up my superiors weekend - two points for me). I was pretty sure that when I come to the office on Monday a name-guided missile will blow me to smithereens just seconds after I swipe my magnetic card on the front door. I was terrified. In my head I was cursing myself for being such an idiot as it was great working with this person and I felt ashamed I let him down on such a simple task.

To my surprise the worst didn’t happen (I wasn’t killed on sight). My manager was in damage control mode. I can’t remember if he said anything to me. He took the heat for my failure from other departments (and believe me this affected many people in and outside the organization) and confronted the task head on trying to put things back on course in the least time possible. I think it took him a few hours (maybe till the end of business day, can’t say for sure as some things are already shrouded by the mists of time).

After the fire was put out it was time to talk. Being a rookie, who until that day didn’t mess up in such a spectacular fashion, I was literally afraid to look the guy in the eye. And there came yet another surprise - my manager was cool as a cucumber. Even if he wanted to see me in the coliseum, fighting lions for my life, you couldn’t tell a thing from how he looked and acted. We had the talk why this happened, was it possible to a avoid this, etc. Afterwards we never spoke about this again.

The whole situation, as stressful as it was for me and the manager, was a learning experience I will never forget. It gave me a lot, both in terms of fulfilling other tasks in the future, but also it was a great “Leadership and Management 101”. The lessons I took away from this on how to act as a manager when your employee makes a mistake could be summarized in just a few simple points:

1. Give yourself some time to calm down. Do not react immediately as the first feeling that comes is anger. And anger is a bad adviser.

2. Withstand the heat and do not throw your employee under the bus. Accept this failure and the consequences as a leader - this will build real loyalty and trust.

3. Try to dig to the root cause of the employees failure. This will help tackle the real problem and not just mitigate the outcomes.

4. Analyze if such errors can be avoided by changes in how work is done (processes). If so, then implement new versions of the processes.

5. Consider employees track record. Is this the first time or does it happen often. If this happens for the first time then probably your employee is well aware that he or she messed up. You don’t need to add insult to injury and reiterate how things are bad. Do the opposite instead – say that you believe that this was a mistake which you are sure will never happen again. Give the employee something to hold on during this hard time. If you give him that, a good employee will reward you with dedication.

6. Consider if the task was we suited for the employee (skills, attitude, personality traits). Maybe the person will be better doing other work and tasks similar to this one should be assigned to someone else (who is better suited). This can both improve overall productivity and limit the chances of failures in the future.

Takeaway

“To err is human …” As a manager you need to accept the fact that sometimes your employees will make mistakes. The only reasonable way to handle this is to make the bad situation work for you and use it to improve how you and your team operate. When managed properly, experience like this will help build rapport and improve engagement, motivation and loyalty, all of which are invaluable in leading a successful team.