Oops

Last night, I learned I've been doing something wrong that affects our organization. I learned this in a workshop with two board members. At the next break, I said, oops, shook my head in disbelief, and owned it.

They were understanding and we agreed immediately on the fix that improves the whole organization.

Last week, a staff member made a mistake and, rather than come to me, tried to hid it. They are new to the organization and timid. I told them, I have no problem with mistakes and don't have use for blame so long as we're open and apply fixes. I worked with them to fix things, it was no big deal, and we're better for it.

I told them how, as a kid, I broke a window with a ball and panicked, feeling I'd be in big trouble. But I told Dad and he helped me fix it without recrimination. His message: when things happen, we fix them.

Decades later, my daughters broke a garage windows with a ball, came to me, and we had fun fixing it together. That new window was better than the one we'd replaced.

Last night's oops pointed out a broken thing. Fixing it makes for a better organization. Fixing it together made us stronger.

Oops is accepting that things happen. It facilitates a fix and brings in help. Oops, more often than not, makes things better than they were before.