Mistakes Worth Making: Unexpected Opportunities for Growth

Mistakes Worth Making: Unexpected Opportunities for Growth
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After making a mistake at work (or in life), it’s easy to “freeze up” and feel fearful. Fear can be paralyzing, instilling a tendency toward making “safe” decisions as opposed to ones of greater risk and reward.

Without mistakes, we wouldn’t have had slinkies to play with as kids, chocolate-chip cookies wouldn’t exist, and Post-It Notes may have never been invented. In error, therein often lies unexpected opportunities.

If you botch a presentation only to find that your failure inspired a great idea for a marketing campaign, behold the runoff of your oops-moment. If you screw up an interview for your dream job, at least you have an established connection in the talent wing of that company. Mistakes are a huge part of the learning process, and without them we’d likely all be inching along unscathed in a state of mediocrity.

Let Mistakes Inspire New Strategies

When I started at The Bay Club, I strongly believed that it was time to invest in mobile technologies. Specifically, I thought it was time for us to develop an app that would allow members to connect with each other, schedule meetups for tennis matches and play dates for kids at the pool, and so forth. All along, the goal was to leverage technology in order to create community.

We didn’t end up launching the app for a number of reasons, but mostly because we didn’t yet have the resources to support that technology in house. When it came down to it, we could have made a bigger impact on the business had we spent the money we spent on app development elsewhere.

The app may not have worked out in the end, but we learned valuable lessons that helped us redirect those community-building efforts into something else beneficial for our members. (We now publish frequently on our blog, where we share events, happenings, etc.)

What I’m getting at is the fact that failure isn’t an end and mistakes don’t make or break you. They’re more like street signs telling you where to go next.

Don’t Let Failure Deter You

A pet peeve of mine is when people say “we tried that and it didn't’ work” — as if an attempt always ends in black or white results. There’s so much grey area. What about it didn't work? What about it did work and why? When paired with data, these types of questions are at the core of strategic decision-making.

Be the First to Admit Your Mistakes

Once you realize you’ve made a mistake, own up to it. This is a topic that comes up a lot in regards to young professionals as they learn the ropes. But it’s especially important for leaders. When leaders demonstrate that making a mistake is okay, the result is more intelligent risk-taking and increased confidence among employees. It also inspires more trust for C-suite leadership.

Be Quick to Bounce Back and Move On

Being okay with the uncomfortable feeling that comes hand-in-hand with a mistake is probably the best way to cope with it. Mistakes will happen; You’ll get this “icky” feeling from time to time, but you’ll get better at dealing with it.

When one of my team members first started with us, she made the mistake of ordering 10,000 file folders instead of 1,000. The expense was huge. When she discovered what had happened, she walked up to me and said, “I have something to tell you.” After she broke the news, she added, “The good thing is that folders are like ketchup. They never expire.”

We both had a laugh and learned from the mistake together. That’s not to say that she didn’t “do her time” in analyzing the budgetary repercussions of the mistake as she surely did, she just recognized when to cut off her self-inflicted punishment. The fact that she was able to lighten the mood while apologizing spoke volumes of her character and the type of person she is.

May we all be so charismatic in how we handle our missteps!

Final Thoughts

If you’re going to mess up (and all of us are), do your best to not make the same mistake again; that’s not fun for anyone. But do be patient with yourself on first offenses. Again: slinkies, chocolate-chip cookies, Post-It Notes. Who knows what your next mistake could end up inspiring or teaching you!

Annie Appel is an executive vice president at The Bay Club Company, an active lifestyle and hospitality company with a network of modern country clubs across California.

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