How Goofing Up Can Help Your Company

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Mistakes are inevitable, yet most of us spend our time pretending they didn’t happen or getting defensive about them. But a new book says it’s how we respond to a mistake that people remember, not the mistake itself.

In their forthcoming book, “The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built a Bestselling Wine,” authors Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey offer a few tips for dealing with mistakes.

The first tip may be the most important: Admit the mistake. It will take the drama out of the situation and allow you to move on to the solution. And it might just win you some admirers in the process.

The next steps are to avoid blame and finger-pointing, figure out how the mistake happened, and fix whatever process caused it. Then document it so it won’t happen again, explain what happened to any wronged parties and assure them it won’t happen again.

The end result should be a stronger organization – and more loyal customers.

Adapted from How Your Organization Can Benefit from Goofing Up at IT Business Edge.