Leader's Digest: Learning From Mistakes

Leader’s Digest is a bimonthly column produced in partnership with Cambridge Consulting Group (CCG), a group of subject matter experts in paramedicine, ambulance operations of every organizational structure, and medical transportation services. Visit www.CambridgeCG.net.

Ever make a bad decision?

As a young leader in a new position, I was eager to win over my staff and show them I valued their opinions. Our cardiac monitors were at the end of their useful lives, and my organization had budgeted to buy new ones. This was a major purchase worthy of thoughtful input—right?

I asked for a team of volunteers to study the issue, meet with vendors, and select the monitors we should buy. The team spent hours, mostly on their own time, researching options and meeting with salespeople. Finally they presented me with their well-formulated decision.

When I placed the order with our corporate purchasing office, they told me I couldn’t buy that particular monitor because our parent organization had an exclusive arrangement with a different vendor. Talk about a gut punch! Not only would be my leadership credibility be crushed, but my crews would have to live with a monitor they viewed as second-best. It took me a long time to rebuild trust with those team members.

That mistake felt really bad. Most do. Luckily most of our mistakes have modest consequences. When we leave our coffee cup on the car roof or walk into the restroom of the wrong gender, we usually don’t pay too high a price. But big or small, making mistakes or bad decisions can help us learn and grow as leaders.

Mistakes and Bad Decisions

You’ll notice I used the terms mistakes and bad decisions in concert. There can be a real and important distinction between making a mistake and making a bad decision. Some might say missing your turn on the way to the grocery store is a mistake and cheating on your taxes is bad decision (because it was done with intention). But don’t get too focused on this academic point, real as it may be. Decisions may indeed be intentional, but not always without regard for consequences.

My decision to create a team to select our cardiac monitor purchase was certainly not without regard. In hindsight it was a decision I made without proper information—not malicious, just misinformed. A mistake. But mistakes and bad decisions (provided they are made with due regard to consequence) are both powerful teachers. We can use their lessons to help us become better leaders. 

Researchers tell us that when we make mistakes, our brains react in specific ways. A specific kind of reaction occurs called error-related negativity, or ERN. There is evidence to suggest this ERN response happens very quickly. At the same millisecond the error occurs and even slightly before, we are actually aware of the mistake in our conscious thought. This suggests our brains are wired in a wondrous way that might help prevent us from making the same mistake twice. That’s good because most of us can use all the help we can get!

Write It Down

No matter the stage in your career, we all benefit by being deliberate about how we learn. If you have a particularly powerful experience with a mistake or bad decision, write it down. Reflect on what went wrong and how you might use that experience to your advantage next time. Ask yourself, What happened? How could this have been different? Break down the elements of the event and consider what you have control over and don’t. 

Be Self-Aware

As I’ve grown older I’ve gained self-awareness in my decision-making. I know when I’m tired or in a bad mood, I don’t make good decisions. If possible, I will step back, take some time, and return to the issue when I’m rested or not annoyed. Of course, in EMS some things, like operational choices at a crash scene, must be decided in real time. For those decisions we need to train like we play and train often. But in leadership roles, particularly senior positions, there are few critical decisions that need to be make in a split second. That’s not to say dealing with ambiguity (a truly important leadership competency) isn’t important. It means you should eliminate as much ambiguity as you can and then make your decision. It’s almost always good advice to sleep on it whenever you can.

Define Levels of Authority 

The cardiac monitor incident early in my career taught me to always seek as much information as possible before deciding. I also learned to define a clear level of authority with any team assigned a work project. Here is one breakdown of possible roles to help provide clarity to your teams:

• Research only (product, procedure, process)
• Research and recommend (present the decision-maker with thoughts and ideas)
• Research, recommend, and decide (be the decision-makers)
• Research, recommend, decide, and implement (complete the whole project)

Had I been clear about this with my monitor team, I would have saved myself a big headache.

If You’re Wrong, Say So

Nothing will destroy trust faster than not owning up to your own mistakes (or bad decisions). Trust is fundamental to leadership, and when people you interact with are uncertain if you will tell the truth, you will either fail as a leader or be the sort others won’t want to be around. This is an all-in concept. You can’t say “I will be accountable” but then make excuses and place blame. Even if others had a hand in your stumble, never point fingers. It would have been easy for my younger self with the monitor committee to blame my company or boss for not telling me more about the exclusive purchasing contract. No, I needed to own that mistake. It was on me for not asking for more information about how purchases were made. Once I took that position with my crew, most respected me for it—even if they didn’t like the outcome.

Give Yourself Some Grace

More than ever we face what one radio personality calls a “pitchfork nation.” It seems like there’s an antagonist around every corner, just waiting for any mistake. Sometimes it feels like you are one social media post away from being tarred and feathered in the public square. Cut yourself some slack. Today’s leaders need not only solid academic and experiential foundations but courage as well. Leadership is not for the faint of heart, so don’t beat yourself up. Show compassion to those in your charge and yourself as well. When you make mistakes, own what you need to, take a deep breath, and welcome the education.  

Sidebar: Great Business Mistakes

There are plenty of noteworthy historical errors to ponder. Here are a few blunders from the business books:

The Louisiana Purchase—In 1803, seeking to assuage economic problems and prepare for war with Great Britain, Napoleon sold a huge piece of land to the United States. The land stretched from New Orleans to Montana and doubled the size of our country. It was purchased for a bargain price, roughly the same amount Tom Brady makes in endorsements each year. It’s a safe bet France would like a do-over on that deal.

Passed on Google—The company called Excite, which is now the modern-day Ask.com, had the chance to purchase Google when the latter was a small Silicon Valley start-up. It turned the deal down, not understanding the growth potential of Google. Today Ask.com still exists but has 100 times less market share than Google.

Blockbuster Video could’ve been Netflix—Who rents videos anymore? Once the owner of 9,000 stores worldwide, Blockbuster Video now has one lonely shop remaining in Bend, Oregon. When Netflix was a fledgling company and Blockbuster was king, the video store turned down an opportunity to buy the newcomer. 

—Brian LaCroix

Resources

Becker S. 7 Biggest Business Blunders Ever Committed. USA Today. Published December 20, 2014. Accessed March 15, 2022. www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/12/20/cheat-sheet-business-blunders/20627213/ 

Lewis J. Mistakes and Bad Decisions–Understanding the Difference. Postworksavvy. Published March 3, 2020. Accessed March 15, 2022. www.postworksavvy.com/mistakes-and-bad-decisions-understanding-the-difference/ 

Morin A. 5 Ways to Turn Your Mistake Into a Valuable Life Lesson. Forbes. Published July 17, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2022. www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2017/07/17/5-ways-to-turn-your-mistake-into-a-valuable-life-lesson 

Overbye K, Bøen R, Huster RJ, Tamnes CK. Learning From Mistakes: How Does the Brain Handle Errors? Frontiers for Young Minds. Published June 16, 2020. Accessed March 15, 2022. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00080

Brian LaCroix, BS, FACPE, CPPS, NRP (ret.), is an executive advisor and cofounder of the Cambridge Consulting Group (CCG). He serves as EMS coordinator at the Center for Patient Safety and is a retired EMS chief at Allina Health EMS in Minnesota.