"Sorry", Is That Enough?

Introduction

Work today is very different from what it used to be. In the past, people didn’t have to make so many decisions every day. But as time goes on, our work environments and the tools we use have become more complex and varied. With this complexity comes more uncertainty and ambiguity.

For many of us, making decisions is a daily part of our job, even when the situation is unclear. Companies often pay the highest salaries and offer the best benefits to those who make the most ambiguous and riskiest decisions. However, our knowledge is always limited, and we rarely have all the information we need. In fact, if we did have all the data, companies wouldn’t need to hire so many experts at such high costs.

Because of these uncertainties, making mistakes is almost inevitable. These mistakes might come from applying knowledge from past experiences or studies that don’t quite fit new situations.

After Making Mistakes

In my experience, experts tend to fall into one of three categories after realizing they’ve made a wrong decision.

Denial of the Outcome

Some experts, even when they see the mistake and its negative results, refuse to accept it. They deny their role in the error. These people either ignore the issue completely or try to blame others. To learn from mistakes, you need to acknowledge and analyze what went wrong. Since these they don’t learn from their mistakes, they are likely to repeat the same mistakes.

Acceptance Without a Plan

The second group doesn’t shy away from admitting their mistake. They apologize to those affected and try to move on with as little cost as possible, but they don’t make much effort to fix the problem at its root. They don’t blame others, which makes them easier to work with than those in the first category, but they also don’t focus on fully resolving the issue.

Acceptance with a Plan

The third group takes full responsibility after making a mistake, or even when dealing with someone else’s mistake. They strive for what is often called extreme ownership . They don’t shift the blame onto others; instead, they do everything they can to improve the situation. If the decision can be reversed, they work to change the current state. If it can’t be undone, they focus on minimizing the impact. At the very least, they work to prevent the mistake from happening again. Working with these individuals is highly rewarding because they grow, help others grow, and contribute to a positive team environment and psychological safety.

Conclusion

It’s hard to say for sure which of these three categories we belong to because the issue isn’t always black and white. In some situations, we might easily fall into the third category, while in others, we might struggle to move past the first—especially in areas where we think we have expertise and experience.

The best approach, in my opinion, is to constantly assess the situation and think about which category we’re in. This way, we can make the necessary changes when needed.