Learn from your mistakes in the office
It is always better to learn from your mistakes in the office, especially in the case of errors resulting in rebukes from the boss: although in such situations you may feel an instinctive urge to raise your voice in order to defend yourself, it is essential to do your utmost to remain calm, composed and dignified.
When faced with provocation, under no circumstances should you respond with more provocation. That isn’t to say that you should allow yourself to be verbally over-powered by your interlocutor; it just means that before responding you must listen attentively to the accusations and when you do respond you must maintain polite behaviour.
The best thing to help you learn from any mistakes made in the office is to absorb the negativity from the boss’s rebukes and then transform it into a positive and useful tool in your own personal and professional growth. Have you come in for some criticism? Then you must reflect at length on how to avoid being rebuked next time.
Another piece of advice when it’s you who is in the wrong, is to demonstrate the ability to admit your mistakes. To make this more genuine, it is essential to admit your mistakes to yourself first and then to the boss, colleagues, or suppliers etc. Making mistakes is only human and nobody will take offence over a simple error, but you should try not to repeat it in future.
Knowing the boss’s habits and character can be very useful when dealing with any rebukes. This is for the simple reason that if the boss loses his temper over something trivial, you behave in a certain way, but if he remains calm and attentive, you take a different approach.
In other words, we can conclude that anyone wishing to learn from their office mistakes must resist the temptation to reply aggressively or sarcastically at all costs and also refrain from making jibes about individuals or matters relating to people’s private lives. It can also be very useful to consider any rebuke as something constructive.
If you want to make a really good impression, you can also try taking the boss by surprise, by admitting your errors, recognising your faults and setting yourself the objective of making fewer mistakes.
Translated by Joanne Beckwith
