People make mistakes.
Many years ago, a participant in one of our leadership classes shared a story:
A junior staffer had made a significant mistake on a client’s project. The fix would cost the company about $20,000 to make right for the client. The junior staffer was called into the boss’s office, and the boss went through every problem and decision that had led to the expensive issue.
With every sentence, the junior staffer expected that the conclusion would be, “… and that is why you are fired.”
But it never came. At the end of the meeting, the boss stood up to see the junior staffer out.
Junior staffer: “You’re not firing me?!?”
Boss: “Are you kidding? I just spent $20,000 training you!”
Use errors as ways to teach people what NOT to do (and why). Use the solutions you use to fix these problems as training opportunities. Mistakes happen, but they can be used to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. “Cautionary tales” and “war stories” are wonderful mentoring tools to help younger team members avoid the problems we have seen (and even those we have accidentally created ourselves).
(image source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=7102241043188044&set=a.356387911106758)