Understanding the difference between failures and mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable, everyone makes them. What differs from person to person is how those mistakes are handled. A successful person will always learn from their mistakes, while those that don’t take it as an opportunity for growth are less likely to see success at the end of the road.
Oftentimes, a lot of people label themselves as failures when they make a mistake. I believe that isn’t the best thought process. When we remember the difference between mistakes and failures, we can then focus on mistakes as an opportunity to learn, which then leads to making significantly less mistakes in the long term.
Similarly, it is natural for people to be satisfied with doing the bare minimum if a certain practice or procedure is working, be it in terms of their personal life or their career, however, I am someone that is committed to constant improvement and I encourage this practice to those around me.
To put things into perspective, If a friend of mine were to walk into a pole, hurt themself and then laugh about it, I won’t laugh with them. Not because I don’t care, but simply because I want to condition them into being more aware of themselves.
Point being, if you create an environment where you acknowledge mistakes for what they are, people will begin to learn from them and you will begin to see lasting progress, with significantly fewer mistakes.
In order to deal with faults and weaknesses, be it others’ or your own, it is first important to be aware of them, so that you can proceed to finding solutions to prevent them from making a reappearance in the future. The problem is that most people just think to themselves, “what are the odds of me walking into a pole again? there’s no need to reflect.”. It being a seemingly small subconscious ‘mistake’, that will never occur again and it need not be improved upon. I would suggest that this is against your better judgement and what will ultimately keep you from reaching set goals and ambitions. If you take a trip down memory lane and aren’t quite shocked or horrified by how stupid you looked, you haven’t grown or learnt all that much.
I subscribe to the notion of continuous improvement; Kaizen, or what the locals in Malaysia would say ‘Sedikit-sedikit, lama-lama menjadi bukit’. Both of which are fairly similar, the concept of continuous improvement over everything one’s doing leading to massive differences in the long run. (PS: this is part of how Cause Effect’s name came to be, www.causeeffect.asia)
If an employee of mine were to make a mistake which resulted in a loss for the company, I could fire them to prove that nothing short of perfection is to be expected. However, doing so would be counterproductive, because not only would I be losing out on a potentially great employee, but it would also force my other employees into hiding the errors and faults they make. As a result, I would be building a company culture that is not only deceptive but also, lacking in its ability to learn and grow.
To put it simply, by not firing an employee for making a mistake and giving them the opportunity to fix their mistake, I would be demonstrating that, while it’s okay to make mistakes, it is completely unacceptable not to learn from them. I create the kind of environment where a statement such as, “The situation was handled poorly”, is not taken as an insult or the definition of a failure but rather a form of mentorship.
Through my experiences, I have learnt that hiring an individual that is capable of self-reflection, is the best thing for the growth of a business. However, first it is important to learn to distinguish between, a) employees that are capable and make mistakes, but possess the ability to reflect on those mistakes and learn from them, and b) employees that are more than well-qualified, but aren’t able to embrace faults and mistakes, in order to learn from them.
Searching for the right individual isn’t a walk in the park. A lot of people suffer in the hands of ego barriers, that prevent them from embracing mistakes and this could be chalked up to years of conditioning to associate mistakes with failure. Individuals that embrace their mistakes and take strides towards learning, out-perform even the most intelligent of people.
Just give us time. 🙂