Nobody's perfect, which means things can and will go wrong. Whether that's at home or at the office, it'll happen. However, you don't have to let it negatively affect your life. Learning how to deal with problems that arise can ease your stress and calm everyone at the office. Following the do's and don'ts below of handling mistakes will ensure your sanity in the long run:
1. Don't let your emotions control you
There's nothing worse than going into a situation hot headed. When something goes wrong, take a step back. Reacting immediately will only serve to escalate the problem. Before jumping head first into the situation, remind yourself that this isn't the first problem you've encountered and bounced back from before, Inc. suggested.
2. Do take it as a lesson
Every problem has a lesson to be learned. After you've taken a step back, consider what went wrong. Was something miscommunicated? Did the client receive the project late? Was the financial plan mishandled? Determine the origin of the mistake and take measures to be sure that it doesn't occur again. Consider what did and didn't work and make sure you take those to heart next time, the source explained.
3. Don't play the blame game
You're all a team so you're all at fault. In the end, it doesn't matter if one person erred. What matters is that the client wasn't happy. Someone should take responsibility, however. That doesn't mean that that person is claiming the mistake, but it does mean that he will work to fix the error, according to Embrace Possibility. Instead of blaming each other, work together to find a solution. Once you do that, you stop acting like the victim and step up to solve the problem.
4. Do stay positive
There's a large possibility that once a mistake is made, you'll overthink it during every free moment. If you let yourself do this, you're going to build it up to much more than it was, the Guardian explained. However, you shouldn't let it affect you like that. Don't allow yourself to wallow in your misery. Everyone has done something wrong, and they've all turned out okay. No matter how often it happens, stay prepared, pick yourself back up and take away something from it, Inc. suggested.
Resiliency is key when it comes to problems at work. Take a step back, look at the issue objectively and come up with a solution. Staying calm and offering a quick fix will ensure that problem doesn't become more than it is.