Have you ever looked back at yourself from a year ago and realized how much you’ve changed and improved in your work?
It’s a good thing to make mistakes, learn from them, improve, but many workplaces tolerate a blame culture discouraging innovation and growth.
In his book “Principles: Life and Work,” Ray Dalio (billionaire and 36th on the Forbes Richest Person list) argues that mistakes should be seen as opportunities for improvement; it’s unacceptable not to learn from them.
When a mistake happens in the workplace, it’s easy to blame the person who made the error. However, Michael Gerber, author of “The E-Myth,” suggests that the system may be at fault for not having a double-check in place to prevent errors in the first place.
By conducting a root cause analysis, vulnerabilities can be discovered and addressed.
After a mistake is made, it’s important to ask how the task could be done differently in the future, rather than being fearful of failure.
In some workplaces, mistakes can lead to job loss, which has the unintended consequence of creating fear and employees hiding errors. This kind of culture is toxic and prevents growth and innovation.
ISSUE LOG
To create a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities for improvement, Dalio suggests keeping an Issue Log to record mistakes and identify patterns. This allows for self-reflection, which is necessary to learn from mistakes and continuously improve.
EGO
Ego can also get in the way of self-reflection. Instead of looking inwardly to identify areas for improvement, people tend to place blame elsewhere to protect their fragile ego.
However, research shows that those who ask the right self-reflection questions and continuously improve outperform those who protect their ego from the truth.
Mistakes are not only okay, but it’s important to create a culture where they are seen as opportunities for improvement.
By identifying vulnerabilities and conducting root cause analyses, workplaces can address issues and continuously improve.
Self-reflection is necessary to learn from mistakes and improve. Don’t let ego get in the way.
By asking the right questions and continuously improving, individuals and workplaces can achieve growth.
Works cited:
– Dalio, Ray, Principles: Life and Work, Simon & Schuster (2017)
– Gerber, Michael E, The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Harper Business (1986)
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