Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles, Freedigitalphotos.net |
I recently read a blog in
which the writer was exploring the topic of the wrong decisions we can make,
but how we need to make them; otherwise we’d be stuck and too scared to take a
risk.
It started me
thinking. In her blog she was more
talking about the decision to take a job or not; to start a business or not,
and she saw them as mistakes when you make the wrong choice.
Somehow a mistake implies
something much smaller than a wrong decision.
A mistake is choosing to attend an event that didn’t meet your
needs. A mistake is forgetting to order
supplies when you are running low.
A mistake is posting a blog before proof-reading it. A wrong decision, on the other hand, in my
opinion, has much deeper repercussions.
Like everyone I’ve made my
share of mistakes but I prefer to think of them as lessons I needed to learn,
albeit the hard way. The key is to learn
the lesson, reflect and not repeat it. Trust
me, there’s always fresh opportunities for you to make mistakes.
But when I reflect back on
the wrong decisions I’ve made – they have been more major, and all revolve
around people. Such as partnering up
with the wrong person and discovering after the “honeymoon” period is over that
it is a total mismatch and that we don’t share the same values or goals after
all. Or hiring someone who creates
chaos within the team, and having to let them go.
Yes, it has been my
judgment around people that has led to wrong decisions – (and I used to be in
HR.) The trouble with these wrong
decisions is that they are tougher to resolve, to terminate or remedy. In fact, rarely is there a remedy if it is
the wrong fit. People rarely change
their stripes.
But like mistakes, there
is always the opportunity to learn and grow from the experience. For example, over ten years ago I partnered
up with someone to run my first business conference. While the conference was a success, the
behind-the-scenes shenanigans made it impossible for us to work together ever
again after the conference was over.
Yet, he did me a favour,
as putting on the conference made me realize I didn’t need a partner to make a
conference happen. In fact I would do
better on my own, without all the game-playing, ego trips and temper tantrums
which were tiresome to say the least.
So sometimes we can make
wrong decisions and reach the right outcome.
What about you? Have you ever made wrong decisions and then
down the road, realized it turned out for the best after all?