Did you know that members of your team are covering up their mistakes?

 

The chances are that members of your team are not owning up to the mistakes they make.

Why don’t we own up?

Well the fact of the matter is that making a mistake is bad enough

but what is really hard, is telling someone else you’ve made a mistake, especially if it’s not the first time you’ve made that mistake.

And that means the problem is made worse because the mistake isn’t dealt with.

So why don’t we just admit to our mistakes? Well ..

We hate being wrong.

All our lives we’ve been told off for making mistakes – forgetting something, breaking something, losing something, saying the wrong thing.

At work, we may come with the expectation that someone is going to tell us off if we make a mistake and we’ll look stupid.

And there we have it, it’s not that we are stupid, it’s that we look stupid that is driving our behaviour.

And, of course, because this is work…

We’re afraid

Afraid of losing money, missing out on promotion, losing respect

Why admitting mistakes is good.

Opening up and admitting you’ve made a mistake can feel scary but here’s what it can do:

  • It shows you’re honest
  • It sets an example of openness
  • It means you can get help fixing the problem you’ve caused quickly
  • It wins you respect

And all these things together mean you can

  • build a culture of trust and transparency

which, at the end of the day, means there’s likely to be a lot fewer mistakes being swept under the carpet.

Why is trust important?

Trust is vital to a team, it brings with it openness about mistakes and weaknesses. It stops things from being hidden. It means people start supporting each other and learning from each other. It makes people feel content at work. It encourages creativity and shared risk taking.

You can have as many targets as you like, and the best vision possible, but if the trust is missing, your team is at risk of having secrets, internal politics, criticism, and losing their ability to be creative and take risks.

What next?

If you think your team has issues of trust, or if you are sure they don’t but they are still not working well together, why not book a free diagnostic skype session with me?

You’ll be able to spend some time looking objectively at your team, so you can identify what may be preventing you from being the best you can be; and we can think about how I might be able to help. Book now, or drop me an email

 

 

 

 

 

 

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