Blind devotion to flawed strategies is far worse than admitting a mistake. Business executives do not admit mistakes because of the potential legal and financial consequences. Political leaders do not admit mistakes because they fear looking weak and indecisive. Partners do not admit mistakes because they want to maintain the upper hand in a relationship. However, insisting on something in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary could make you look delusional and arrogant. To avoid losing credibility, admit your mistake, take corrective action and move forward.
Instructions
1. Understand the nature of the mistake. You could gain perspective in family conflicts if you allow passions to cool. If something has gone wrong at work, assess your role in it.
2. Admit the mistake to yourself first. If you are at fault, even partially, accept it. Write down what you might have done wrong and what steps you could take to fix it. Admitting a mistake does not represent a character flaw. You should be more interested in continually improving rather than in being right all the time.
3. Analyze the environment. Accepting blame could help your career. However, you should read the people around you to assess if management encourages truth telling and admissions of fault. Senior leadership usually sets the tone by taking full responsibility for the company's strategic decisions. If management is always eager to blame others when things go wrong, the work environment might be hostile to people who openly admit mistakes.
4. Set aside private space and time to admit the mistake. In personal cases, take the initiative and explain your role in the conflict. Admit your mistake and apologize sincerely. At work, meet with your boss privately and explain the nature of the mistake. This is the responsible thing to do because undetected or unresolved safety or quality issues could cause serious harm to the company. If you work in an open and supportive environment, your managers will appreciate the gesture and thank you for it.
5. Propose solutions to correct your mistake and to minimize the chances of recurrence in the future. This adds substance to an apology and shows that you are taking the matter seriously. In family disputes, one solution might be to express openly when something is bothering you and not keep things bottled up. At work, you could propose cost-effective solutions for fixing the error. Eve Tahmincioglu of the MSN Careers website cites a case in which an employee had introduced a serious typo in the price of a product. The employee proposed several alternatives and offered to pay for the mistake.
