The magical power of making mistakes!

Let's be honest, while we might sometimes try and hide the fact, we all make mistakes from time to time. I used to fear making a dreaded mistake and of course would go out of my way to prevent them from happening, but running from the inevitable can never be a winning proposition.

We're all human and making mistakes is part of our DNA – I now embrace making them for two reasons:

1) They show me I'm trying hard and pushing boundaries – essential to achieving success in any aspect of life.

2) They're a catalyst to grow and develop – I only make them once and always learn from the experience.

I was reminded of another magical power of mistakes on a family trip to Windsor last weekend; a story I'll share with you now.

With two young children planning a trip away, even for a few days, is no mean feat. In fact it's more of a military operation requiring precision planning and then diligent execution of said plan. We'd picked a nice hotel in close proximity to LEGOLAND (for the children) and Windsor Castle (for the parents). The first day went without hitch; two tired children after running around the extensive complex that is LEGOLAND served to ensure a relaxing and enjoyable dinner.

The following day having visited Windsor Castle, which presented limited opportunity to run around, my two terrors returned to the hotel with a bucket load of energy that needed burning off before dinner. My wife and I sat down with a drink and watched our boys explore the children's play area. Calling them to get ready for dinner we noticed that their clothes, shoes and even their hair were covered in yellow paint and on closer inspection realised that the paint on the climbing frame was actually wet.

My wife was quite angry (new clothes and yellow paint don't mix well) and we visited the front desk to complain. The manager made himself immediately available and advised that the play area had been painted only a few days before. He promised he would put things right and suggested we have a drink while he investigated the situation. True to his word he found us in the bar a few minutes later and given cleaning the clothes was out of the question (we were leaving early the following day) he offered us complimentary dinner and drinks in the restaurant that evening.

The hotel had made a mistake and while they couldn't rectify the situation they'd offered to put things right in a different way. We had a lovely meal that evening – the staff were attentive and went above and beyond to make sure we had a fantastic experience.

Despite the catalyst being a mistake the hotel had made, I've since found myself singing the praises of the staff and how they put the situation right, to anyone who'll listen (even in this blog post) and have even posted a five-star review on TripAdvisor.

Would I have talked so much about our weekend and left a positive review if the hotel hadn't first made and then rectified their mistake – the irony is probably not.

This is the magical power of making mistakes – when you make them, by acknowledging the situation and going out of your way to put things right, it's possible to generate more goodwill than if things had gone right from the off.

So what does all of this have to do with the executive job market and the Career Codex methodology for job search success? Well interviews are generally part of any recruitment process and coming face to face with an employer can be a stressful situation, particularly if you're not prepared and don't have a strategy to navigate this part of an employer's decision-making process properly.

Not being able to answer a question or starting your answer and subsequently realising you've not given the best example or account of yourself to demonstrate your skills and experience in a particular area is a likely occurrence. Diligent preparation goes a long way to minimise the chances of this happening, but of course there is always the possibility that you'll mess something up.

The trick here is not to hide, but instead to acknowledge your mistake.

If you're mind goes blank, try something like this:

'I'm sorry, but I'm struggling to come up with the right example for you at the moment, do you mind if we come back to this question towards the end of the interview please?'

[This communicates honesty to the employer and shows you're not one to shoot from the hip unless you're sure of your message. It also gives your subconscious the time and opportunity to come up with a far better answer than the knee-jerk one you might have given.]

When you're part way through your answer and realise you could have done a lot better, try something like this:

'I'm sorry, I realise that this answer is not the best one I could give to demonstrate my skills and experience in this area; if it's ok* with you I'll start again.'

[This communicates decisiveness to the employer and brings their attention, which may have lapsed, firmly back to you. It shows you're in control and the fact that you're prepared to acknowledge your mistake builds trust and rapport.]

*Note – you're not seeking permission to start again – using 'if it's ok' simply serves to soften your statement.

If you've never tried this strategy in an interview environment and ploughed on instead, I encourage you to give this approach a go next time. Just as my experience with the hotel, it can leave a lasting impression that goes much further to impress an employer than if your answers had been word perfect from start to finish!

I hope you found this blog post useful. If you've had a similar experience or used a similar strategy at interview, please feel free to share your comments below.

For more information on Career Codex and how to navigate the executive job market successfully, please click here.