Employees sometimes make mistakes or violations.  If the mistakes or violations will adversely affect the productivity or integrity of the company, you call the employee in your office and give him or her a reprimand.

There are five serious errors which a manager or leader can make in reprimanding.

1.  Failing to get facts.    Don’t accept hearsay evidence or go on general impressions but be sure to have all the facts before jumping.

2.  Acting while angry.  Do it when you are calm and be as impartial as possible in making a decision to reprimand. Make a self-evaluation, perhaps it was possibly your fault that the error or violation occurred.

3.  Being vague about the offense.  Let the person know the general charge and the specific details of the offense.  Don’t refer to general complaints or refuse to give details.

4.  Not considering the other person’s side of the story. Listen to the person’s  full story about what happened and the reasons why he did what he did. There may be mitigating circumstances, conflicting orders or even unclear orders you gave which were at fault.

5.  Neglecting to keep records.  Disciplinary reprimands should always be recorded in the personnel folder of the person to become part of his or her work history  and as evidence in the event of further disciplinary requirements.  In many cases, people who were known to be unsatisfactory employees over the years have been reinstated after discharge because the company could produce no proofs that the person had ever been told of his shortcomings.

These are the blunders that I know and if you have some in your list please share them with us by leaving your comments below this post. We love to hear from you.

Your friend,

Nimia Acebes

To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future. Plutarch

As a leader, one of the challenges you must face in the workplace is handling mistakes, especially those of your people because control over others is not as easy as control over yourself.

When you say to your people, “Don’t commit any mistake in your job, otherwise you will suffer the consequences if it will happen,” , your people will be extra careful in doing the task. But, he might not take the initiative to perform beyond his functions, such as improvement activities, for fear of committing mistakes. People who fear mistakes, says Molly Napier, make no progress.

Encourage your people to tell you immediately if mistakes occur so that they could be corrected immediately. Encourage them to admit their mistakes.  Forgive them for their mistakes, let them learn lessons from them and  resolve not to commit the same mistakes again. Stephen Covey says: People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment.  But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of the heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.

At work, I always tell my people to ask for some clarifications, if instructions are not clear to minimize mistakes,  because they involve costs to the company in terms of time, money and energy.  They must not pretend that they know everything. Ask, ask, ask!

Stop blamestorming. John Wooden says, A man may make mistakes, but he isn’t a failure until he starts blaming someone else.

While you must assure your people that making mistakes is no cause for worry and trembling, never allow them to believe that mistakes themselves are  “okay.” Otherwise, mistakes become a habit.

Face mistakes at work and create a task force composed of the best brains you have available to focus on and recommend solutions to the problem.  Some of the best systems and procedures were formulated and implemented out of the lessons learned from mistakes.

You might also some ideas in your mind and I’m inviting you to share them to us by leaving your comments below this article.

Your friend,

Nimia Acebes