I stuffed up

Have you made mistakes at work that haunt you still?

I’ve got two stuff ups that still make me cringe

As a rookie media officer in government, it was still exciting to talk to journalists.

I forgot to tell two of them that I was not the Department’s spokesperson.

It was a stupid mistake. The journos chatted to me like I was a friend. I forgot all about the media guidelines.

One journo didn’t publish my name with their story.

The other did. I had an uncomfortable meeting with my boss that morning.

And it took a few months to regain the trust of my colleagues.

The loss of that trust was more costly than the embarrassment of seeing my name in print.

I wish I owned up to both at the time.

It could have helped a new colleague avoid the same mistake a few months later.

Stuff ups can be costly.

But not sharing them costs us all more.

Owning up to mistakes isn’t easy. But doing so makes it easier for others to avoid making the same ones.

We know this, but we keep our mistakes to ourselves.

You don’t want to be seen as the only one to have have stuffed up.

You don’t want people to doubt your expertise.

You want to be perfect.

What other reasons have you had for keeping a mistake to yourself? I’d love to hear – and I’ll keep it to myself 🤐.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said:

‘Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.’

Over the next few weeks I’ll be talking about sharing your stuff ups in a way that’s safe, practical and fun.

And yes, that will include a few facilitation stuff ups that still make me cringe 😳

Thanks for reading this far.

Stay (fl)awesome!