We have all been there and know the feeling when a mistake happens – that feeling you get in your stomach, the cold sweats, the nervousness of having to tell your boss and so on.

In today’s fast paced workplace and in the digital environment we live in, things are moving very quickly, which then opens up the opportunities for mistakes to happen.

In our industry or at least in my current position, there are lots of human interventions – such as the creation, loading and scheduling of eMail, SMS messages and Website assets. Over the past couple years, technology has allowed the automation of many tasks, but there are still touch points that takes a team member to accomplish and touch. This is where the mistakes happen and it is inevitable that a mistake will happen.
Mistakes will happen. It is what happens after the mistake that is important. After a mistake has been made, it is important to learn from it and to put plans in place to prevent the same mistakes from happening over and over. Mistakes are not a failure of the individual but many times the failure of the process or the systems in place. Let your team know that mistakes are ok and that they are going to happen, but the most important thing is to show your team you have their back when they happen.What to do when mistakes happens:
1 – Own up to your mistake, it is a waste of everyones time to defect.
2 – Assess the mistake and see what the impact is going to be – financial, customer experience and so on
3 – Fix the mistake
4 – Communicate the mistake and what has been done to fix it
5 – Put safeguards into place to prevent the same mistake from happening again
6 – Learn from the mistake and move on

What NOT to do when a mistake happens:
1 – Denial that a mistake was made
2 – Don’t wait to admit the mistake
3 – Don’t try to cover the mistake up or glossed over it
4 – Don’t blaming someone else or deflect blame
5 – Don’t quit or get overly cautious
6 – Don’t beat yourself up – you need a clear head to come up with the solution to fix the mistake

If you can follow the steps above or something similar, you will earn more respect from your employer and peers AND learn from your mistakes.

About Bernie

With more than 23 years of experience in marketing, Bernie is the Director of Digital Marketing at Papa John’s International, based in Louisville, KY. His current focus is building and scaling a progressive digital marketing foundation that balances the needs of both consumers and national/local stakeholders —  all while delivering measurable ROI to the business.

Additionally, Bernie oversees brand representation for Papa John’s digital properties and manages direct-to-consumer channels including email, SMS and push messaging. Recent initiatives have centered around bringing together larger promotional efforts with targeted campaigns to engage the consumer at the precise moment of interest.

Follow Bernie on Twitter @B2the7 or @B7_Design & the B2The7 blog @ http://b2the7.com/b2the7