You made a mistake at work. Now what?
» Series: ‘The career stuff nobody tells you series’
By Vanessa Belleau
At some point in your career, you are going to get something wrong.
You will miss something. Misjudge a deadline. Say the wrong thing. Forget a detail. Make a decision that does not work.
Welcome to being human!
The question is not whether you will make mistakes, the real question is what happens next.
Mistakes do not automatically destroy trust. Poor ownership can.
There is a huge difference between saying, ‘Sorry, things were really busy and I did not realise how urgent it was’ and saying, ‘I underestimated how much time the work required and I should have raised the risk earlier. That meant you had less time to prepare and someone else had to step in. Next time I will flag the risk as soon as I identify it rather than waiting until the deadline is already compromised.’
Same mistake. Very different response.
The second response tells me that you understand what happened, you understand the impact and you are not trying to wriggle out of responsibility. Most importantly, you have thought about what will change.
A simple structure I use is REPAIR = Recognise what happened. Understand the effect it had on others. Identify the pattern that led to the problem. Take action to put things right. Decide how you will improve your approach next time. Then rebuild trust by following through consistently.
That final part matters.
Trust is not rebuilt because you gave an excellent apology. It is rebuilt because your behaviour afterwards gives people evidence that you learned.
I would also avoid the over-apology spiral. Taking responsibility does not require a 20-minute speech about how terrible you feel.
If you keep saying, ‘I am so sorry, I feel awful, I cannot believe I did this’, you can accidentally move the attention away from the issue and onto reassuring you, which won’t serve you in the long run.
So,
Own it.
Apologise.
Fix what you can.
Learn.
Follow through.
Move forward.
Questions to ask yourself
When something goes wrong, do I tend to explain or take ownership?
Can I clearly name the impact my mistake had on other people?
Do I know what behaviour or decision created the problem?
What would need to change to prevent the same mistake happening again?
Am I rebuilding trust through action, or relying on my apology?
Professional maturity is not about never getting things wrong.
It is about becoming someone people can trust when things are difficult, awkward or messy.
A strong response to a mistake can sometimes build more credibility than pretending you never make one.
Final thought
Think about one recent mistake, missed deadline or awkward situation.
Write down: what happened? What was the impact? What will I do differently next time?
Then make sure your next action gives people evidence that you meant it.
Light,
Vanessa ⭐️
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