Why people make mistakes and how to prevent them in the future

“To err is human” – Alexander Pope

We are all leaders. At the very least, you are leading yourself. You may also lead your family, a team at work, or even a whole company. It’s essential as a leader to remember that people are not infallible robots; we make mistakes. As a leader, you are responsible for inspiring people (including yourself) to do their job well. This includes being engaged, hard-working, high performing, and minimizing mistakes. Human error can be very costly. 

In order to reduce the frequency of mistakes we first need to understand why people make mistakes. 

Why people make mistakes

Broadly speaking, mistakes can be defined as: 

• Deliberate. The person knowingly makes a mistake, either because: they want the known consequences of the mistake to occur; or because they are self-sabotaging and behaving impulsively or compulsively. 
• Unintentional. The person does not consciously make a mistake. 

• Omission errors – the person forgets to do something. As a leader, when you discover a mistake, it’s essential to be a detective and attempt to find the reasons and define the problem. You may have a great solution, but if it’s solving the wrong problem, it will not be effective. 
• Commission errors – the person does the task but does it poorly. 

Deliberate mistakes can occur for a couple of reasons:

Self-sabotage: (very common) the person has a pattern of behavior that they know is not good for them, but they don’t know how to stop themself. 

Desire to cause harm: (less common) they want to cause damage or consequences to themself or to you, other people, or the business. This needs to be thoroughly investigated as it is never acceptable. 

Omission errors can occur for several reasons:

• The person’s brain is not working optimally: they are tired, depressed, stressed, sick, or unhealthy, and this lead to them forgetting or not having the energy or drive to do the task. 
• Mindset/psychology: they don’t believe the task is important or have confidence that they can do it well. 
• Engagement / attentional issues: they did not pay attention, and so the task did not enter their memory.  
• Forgetfulness: they forgot what to do or how to do it.
• Poor organization: they didn’t do the task due to poorly organizational skills, and the task was not done in a timely manner. 
• Overwhelm: this is a type of stress which occurs due to feeling like you have too much to do, and you don’t have a plan or don’t feel confident that you can get it done. 
• Overload: Sometimes, a person literally has too many tasks to do in the time available, and some do not get done. 
• Lack of motivation or drive: this can lead to poor engagement or attention, forgetfulness, or lack of prioritization. Consciously or subconsciously, the pain of doing the task outweighs the pleasure. 
• Lack of ownership: the person wasn’t told or didn’t realize that the task was theirs to do. 
• Commission errors (the person does the task but does it poorly). These can also occur for a variety of reasons: 
• The person’s brain is not working optimally: they are tired, depressed, stressed, sick, or unhealthy and this lead to them not being able to execute the task well. 
• Mindset/psychology: they don’t believe the task is important or have confidence that they can do it well. 
• Engagement / attentional issues: the person is unable to get into a highly attentive state and sustain it and so gets distracted and doesn’t complete the task or does it poorly. 
• Forgetfulness: they forgot how to do the task correctly.
• Overwhelm: can lead to attentional issues. 
• Overload: can lead to a person rushing a task and not checking that they have done it correctly. 
• Lack of ability: the person doesn’t have the intelligence, skills, knowledge, aptitude or experience to do the task well. 
• Laziness or low standards: Sometimes people are lazy or sloppy; other times, they have a low standard for their work. Is this inherent in who they are, or is it situational? 
• Lack of motivation or drive: Perhaps they don’t see the purpose behind their work, leading to poor engagement, inattention, laziness or low standards. 
• Poor communication: If a task is not communicated to a person in a way that suits their communication style, then they may not understand the task in hand. 
• Procedural: The systems or procedures in place to do this task are not efficient, effective, or robust. Perhaps the person does not have the tools (physical or digital) to do the job well. 

Get curious and delve deep into the potential causes of the mistakes. Mistakes are probably multi-factorial; that is, multiple causes interact. Having identified the underlying causes, you can then make a plan to solve the problem. 

Preventing future mistakes

How big was the mistake?

Consider the consequences of the mistake: how big or significant are they? This may help give leverage not to make a mistake again. E.g., if you put your hand on a hot stove and it causes burns that are painful for days, you are less likely to do it again than if it hurt a tiny bit for a few seconds. Also, consider the broader implications: For your family, your team, your clients, your boss, your business, your wellbeing, and the bottom line. Mistakes erode trust and it can take great effort to earn it back.  

Your mistakes

It’s crucial to own your mistakes and commit to fixing them, especially if they were big mistakes and you want to prevent the consequences from happening again. 

Communicate with the people affected and be humble. Apologize if appropriate and tell them how you plan to prevent the mistake from happening again. This rebuilds trust. 

Write down the causes of the mistakes and devise a plan to fix them. E.g., if you made a mistake because you just got out of bed and were groggy, commit to getting out of bed earlier and energizing yourself before you start work. If you made a mistake because you didn’t understand the task, ensure that you ask for explicit instructions and verify that you have understood it before you start work next time. If you feel you don’t have the training to do a task well, honestly communicate this and ask for training to fill the gap. 

Other people’s mistakes

It can be harder to prevent other people’s mistakes as you can influence but not control their behavior. 

Ask them why they think they made the mistake. Notice their level of insight sometimes people do not know why they made a mistake, and you may need to help them discover the root causes. 

Once you have a good idea of why the mistake happened, you’ll need to work with the person to create solutions that work for them. They need to be part of the solution or it is unlikely to be effective. Your role is to provide an environment in which they can thrive. Forcing change rarely works. 

Examples of solutions

• Self-sabotage: help bring awareness to the behavior and uncover the root cause.  
• Desire to cause harm: these require a firm hand. Communicate that this is not acceptable and that there are consequences. Get a commitment that they will not make a mistake again. Strict adherence to consequences are needed to maintain trust. 
• Poor organization: suggest strategies or resources and encourage them to experiment until they find something that works for them. 
• The person’s brain is not working optimally: Consider offering suggestions but be cautious, especially in a work environment. If the person is sick, depressed, or you are concerned that they might have ADHD or memory issues suggest that they see a medical provider, if appropriate. Their physical and mental wellbeing is not your responsibility; it is theirs. 
• Mindset / psychology:
• Be positive and encouraging.
• Reinforce good performance with praise and reward.
• Be clear about boundaries and consequences. 
• Engagement / attentional issues: help them discover what can improve this for them. E.g., if they struggle to pay attention in meetings, suggest that they write notes. Find ways to give them variety and interest in the work they do. 
• Forgetfulness: tell them to ask for clarity if they think they may have forgotten how to do something, especially if it’s been a while since they last did the task. 
• Stress and overwhelm: if they report stress or overwhelm, don’t ignore it. These are very real to the individual. Acknowledge how they are feeling and ask how you can support them. 
• Overload: if the person is truly overloaded their leader needs to evaluate whether the individual’s workload could be reduced. 
• Lack of ability: Determine the gaps and if they are fillable. Sadly, sometimes someone is just not cut out for a job. 
• Laziness or low standards: Set clear, explicit boundaries on what’s acceptable and put consequences in place. 
• Lack of motivation or drive: Help them discover what drives, motivates or excites them. Help them see the purpose behind more menial tasks. If they have a “motivators” assessment, this can be useful. 
• Poor communication: Communication should be explicit and clear. It should also take into account the person’s behavior style. You also need to check that they have understood what you communicated. A behavioral assessment such as DISC can be beneficial here. 
• Procedural: Do the systems or procedures need to be revamped? Does the person need access to better tools?

Mistakes are common in life and business. When a mistake occurs, there is an opportunity to find the cause and make changes to reduce the chances of the same error occurring again. There is also an opportunity to learn about what works for an individual. We can learn more from our mistakes (sometimes) than our successes.