The value of a mistake

While there can be a cost to making a mistake, there is always value. Dollar value, relationship value, leadership value, emotional value…the list goes on and on. Take dollar value, for example. Education costs money. College is not free. So, look at a mistake as paying for education. Understand the reasons, what could have been done different, how you could have prevented it. Share those lessons with others so they do not make the same mistake. Yes, it may have cost money, so get all the value out of the ‘class’ that you can. How about leadership value. How did your manager react to the mistake? You learn a lot about your leader by what happens next. Was it all doom and gloom, or did they react in a more positive way, as a lesson learned? What if you are the leader and the mistake is made by someone on your team. Do you treat it as a valuable lesson, following a proper course of analysis, future prevention, sharing? The alternatives are not very people first. Whether it is your mistake or someone who works for you, remember, no one screws up on purpose. Mistakes expand on wisdom; one reason employees who are mature in their profession add so much value. They have taken their education beyond the classroom and added the value of learning from mistakes.