Many of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work. This means that no matter how dedicated and talented we are, we’re bound to make some mistakes from time to time — we’re only human, after all.
However, if you’re new at a job, a young professional, or in a position where you don’t have the best relationship with a colleague (or your manager), there can be plenty of opportunities for missteps. Especially these days, when things move quicker than ever and far-reaching actions can be made at the click of a button, it’s important to make sure you’re double checking your work, proofreading your emails, and being thoughtful about your interactions with others. And as much as possible, keep your cool in the face of challenges, even if that means ‘fessing up to a mistake you totally didn’t mean to make.
We chatted with six professionals about mistakes they’ve made at work and the lessons they learned as a result. Read on to learn more about others’ unfortunate blunders and take notes so you don’t inadvertently land yourself in a similar situation.
"When I was in my early 20s, I was working at my dream job as part of an innovative team at a world-class advertising agency. The head of my regional team, a women 10 years my senior, was very studious and academic, different from most of those leaders within the ad agency environment. I looked up to her; I liked that she complimented the creative side of the agency with strategic and analytical insight.
"Our national head was a very different person. He was a knowingly ‘privileged man’ who often enjoyed talking about his accomplishments (real or imaginary), his wealth (perhaps overly-exaggerated), and his ‘very important’ perspectives on everything.
"After an all-hands meeting, my supervisor was talking to some of us and expressing her disdain for his lack of collaboration and teamwork and, in an attempt to show support, I joined in on the discussion. Adding humor to the banter, I thought that I was among ‘friends, and could ‘let my hair down’ and express my agreement with the comments being made.
"Within days, stories of the discussion had traveled around the agency – though not a completely accurate depiction of what had transpired. I eventually realized I was the center of controversy, being accused of not respecting leadership and engaging in idle gossip. While I didn’t lose my job, I definitely lost opportunities.
"I learned two valuable lessons from this experience that I still carry with me today: Never mistake friendly banter among new colleagues as friendship and always resect the position of those superior to you.
"It seems basic, but sometimes we get confused when lines in professional settings become blurred. It’s important to keep a healthy distance while you’re figuring out the culture of your new professional environment."
— Joy Altimare, chief engagement and brand officer at EHE Health
"One of the biggest mistakes I made was while I was working as a web engineer for a start-up, tasked with updating some user access to a ‘political social media’ platform they were developing.
"When I made the update, I was multitasking and not paying much attention. I ended up giving all of the users who were involved in that specific campaign — and were using the platform for testing and engagement — admin access. So over 200 users were granted admin access because of me.
"Luckily, I noticed within 10 minutes, notified my development lead, and was able to roll back the update.
"What I learned from this mistake is to take my time when doing tasks at work. Being an engineer, I have sensitive access to applications used by people all over the world. The work I do can make some huge impact if done wrong. I now make sure to take my time, pay more attention, and not multitask while doing my work.
"Everyone acts like things are extremely urgent and if you don’t have things done yesterday, everything is your fault. This attitude is especially true in IT, and it is dangerous. Not only did this teach me to be patient with my work but to help others understand that things take time and we are all only human."
— Daniella Flores, IT professional and author at I Like To Dabble
"The worst mistake I ever made at work happened nearly 40 years ago, but I still remember it to this day. I was only 22 and a participant in a regional bank’s 18-month management training program.
"For six months of this program, we had to do a rotation in different areas of the bank. I was in the middle of the ‘bond-desk rotation,’ and compared to the other areas, I was learning very little and had been given only mundane tasks to complete, in my opinion.
"So on this particular day, I was in a bad mood and decided to tell my coworkers that worked in this area how boring the bond-rotation job was compared to the other rotations.
"I spoke my mind about every little thing: I did not think that I was being utilized properly; I felt that I was smarter and more talented than the work they were having me to do; I could do something better with my time; and finally that I was completely bored out of my mind.
"As I finished, I turned around and there stood the manager of the department who was also a senior vice president and reported directly to the president of the bank. As I shut my mouth, he politely asked me to follow him to his office, which I did. He then politely asked me to close the door, which I did.
"Let me just say, the only thing that I said in that meeting was that I was sorry. He said everything else that you could possibly imagine about how dumb, ungrateful, careless, immature, and stupid I obviously had to be.
"In addition, he told me if I was so smart and so bored maybe I should go read a bond book, which one of the bond traders politely placed on my desk the next morning. It was the worst verbal butt-kicking in my life. The good news was that I read that bond book, shut my mouth and eventually was promoted out of the program.
"My lifelong takeaways? Never say or email anything in a corporate environment that you are not prepared to say to the CEO directly, never complain without also having a recommended solution to the problem, and don’t be the problem.
— Rita P. Mitchell, author of Own Your Phenomenal Self
"My company works with several large eCommerce retailers and national and international clients that cover all spectrums of the business world, including corporate housing, skin care, merchant services, travel, and even sex toys.
"One particular client is one of the largest adult product retailers in the world, and we spend a great deal of time discussing content development plans and execution strategies. In this case, my team and I had developed an extremely detailed plan around a ‘tell all guide to butt plugs and anal exploration’ — complete with common misconceptions, an infographic, instructions, and more.
"The marketing director for the sex toy retailer happens to share the same first name and middle initial as the CFO of a global financial services company we also work with, who is an extremely straight laced gentleman in his late-60s.
"My graphic journey into butt plugs went to his inbox rather than the intended recipient — and I realized it the second I hit send. I frantically tried to recall the email but was out of luck. I went into full blown internal panic mode: Do I call the CFO of one of our largest clients and say ‘sorry about the butt plugs,’ send a follow up, or just roll with it?
"About 15 minutes later I received an email from the CFO with one line: ‘While this is very educational, I believe this wasn’t intended for me.’ I responded with an apology and to this day we’ve never spoken of it again.
"Luckily, the repercussions were nothing more than a severe case of embarrassment, however the story made the rounds through our company, and I hear about it still.
"I made a rule for myself and now whenever I send an email, the ‘to’ and ‘cc’ fields are the last thing to get added and are double checked before I hit send. It was definitely a wakeup call to slow down and double check what I’m doing."
— BJ Enoch, vice president of enterprise accounts for SocialSEO
"I had a colleague who I was not a big fan of, and we were assigned to do a project together. We avoided each other and only communicated through email. While we were polite to one another, we never addressed our issues head on and were very passive aggressive.
"I only knew my section of the presentation but didn’t have a holistic understanding of the project. I had briefly reviewed the data that my partner pulled together, but because we weren’t communicating, I wasn’t able to pull out key insights that were painstakingly obvious.
"In the end, the presentation was terrible, and our boss chewed us out. He basically said, ‘You both are very talented, but it’s clear you all don’t trust each other. I’m not asking you all to be best friends, but at the minimum, you all need to be on the same page so we can pull through for our clients. Grow up, put aside whatever you have going on, and do the job. If you can’t do that, I understand, but maybe this isn’t the team for you."
"This experience taught me that communication is critical and even keeping it cordial is not enough. In order to be successful, I have to be honest, transparent, and present with the people on my team."
— Michael Lynch, publicist at Michael Lynch
"A few years ago, I had a boss I did not get along with. I had daily arguments with her and often felt like I was going to war and not work.
"On one particular day, we had a blow out about a program we were working on together and I ended up storming out of the building and refusing to show up for work the next day — I was that pissed!
"I got a few phone calls from senior level admin wondering my whereabouts and my reasons for such a stunt, and I explained to them it was in my — and my boss’s — best interest that I stay away. I was later written up for the incident, a charge that I appealed but ultimately lost. A few months later, I was permanently moved to a new location and shortly after that, I snagged the position I’m in now.
"I’ve learned that not every perceived injustice is a fight worth having. I have a bad habit of not letting some things just roll off my back. Many of the arguments — yes I said arguments — with my boss, could have been solved by just leaving the room or ignoring her all together until cooler heads could prevail.
"Internally, this fight has done some damage to my reputation. My last boss told me about the stories he heard from that incident, and he had a very one-sided take on the issues. I’ve been painted like a person who does not value my job, who is unprofessional, rude, and lazy — the opposite of how I am. I’m sure that others who have heard the story without my perspective may feel the same way, and that is a hard pill to swallow."
— Shanna Battle, Style blogger and Outreach Coordinator
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Source: Refinery29