Dealing with making mistakes — Early career advice

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

First of all, it is necessary to highlight that making mistakes is normal and it happens with all the professionals, including the best ones.

This article belongs to a series where I’ve gathered feedback from professionals I admire to summarize our experiences on handling our anxieties during our entry level experiences.

We all strive to prevent mistakes from happening, but it’s natural that they occasionally do. Knowing how to deal with your own mistakes is major. Out of fear or inexperience, some professionals tend to hide their errors, what ends up postponing the measures that must be taken to solve it. That’s making the mistake even worse: it’s getting it wrong twice.

According to Ana Lisboa, life and career coach, in her article on dealing with errors in work environments, professionals must admit errors as soon as they notices it and, if necessary, they must report directly to their superiors. It’s essential to focus on understanding the impact caused and creating an action plan to reduce the side-effects. You must proactively collaborate with whoever is working on the solution, if they’re not responsible for it themselves.

Besides, it’s worth noting that formalizing and documenting as much as possible of the communications about the tasks you perform makes it possible for you to protect yourself when there is a stalemate. The purpose of the documentation is not to point fingers or finding the guilty ones, but to support the team to perform better next time, promoting knowledge sharing.

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