How to make the 'perfect mistake.' A leader's guide to screwing-up

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Reuning
  • 436th Airlift Wing Operations Group
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Sometimes we concentrate too much on the wrong thing - when everything goes right. Unfortunately, in the real world, mistakes are made and problems occur every day. Mistakes and problems are so prevalent perhaps the best thing is not to avoid them but to perfect them. My recipe to make the perfect mistake involves four ingredients: planning for, identifying, correcting and learning from mistakes. Just like any recipe, it's essential to combine all the ingredients correctly. Most of us are familiar with the process of making mistakes and creating problems, but perfecting them takes some extra work.

Mistake planning 101. The "perfect mistake" is first and foremost an honest mistake. Plan ahead to avoid pitfalls - good leaders don't try to make mistakes, nor do they let avoidable ones occur. Despite careful planning and strong leadership, things don't always go right. Leaders plan for problems. When screw-ups occur, they don't ignore or downplay them; they identify them quickly and meet them head on. Most of us think it easy to identify a problem, but in the real world, it's not always easy to correctly identify problems. Correctly identifying problems takes thorough investigation.

Mistake forensics. The key is to expect mistakes and problems and know what to look for. Keep in mind they come in all shapes and sizes. They can be caused by individual error, poor training, bad technical data, poor communication, group think, etc. Mistakes occur in every phase of an operation from planning to after-action reports. During the ID phase, don't try to fix the problem - concentrate on identifying symptoms and root causes. Practice looking for problems; make it part of each phase of an operation. Don't wait until the after action report to find errors. Don't just admit to mistakes - capitalize on them! Make them work for you; they are essential to current and future successes. Once a problem is recognized and properly identified, it is time for a correction.

Don't try to make them go away - perfect them. Correcting mistakes takes time. Here the identification of root causes and symptoms comes into play. At this point it's critical not to focus solely on symptoms. I'm not saying don't try to treat symptoms; military necessity often calls for an immediate "fix" to keep things on track. You may need to put off working on the root cause based on the operational situation. Imagine you are driving in your car and you misjudge the speed necessary to merge with traffic. You can't just freeze traffic and analyze where you went wrong, you must make an immediate correction. Later, after some heavy braking or aggressive acceleration you can work on the cause. Sometimes it is impractical or even impossible to fix the root problem during the course of a given operation. Some problems can't be fully addressed until we add the final ingredient - lessons learned.

After action reporting. "Lessons learned" is essential to military operations; we can't afford to make the same mistake over and over. After the smoke has cleared and conditions permit, review your operation from start to finish. Don't just include leadership in your sessions, include personnel at all levels. To gain new perspective, try to include at least one person who was not part of the operation. Concentrate on the elements that went right as well as the ones that went wrong. Focus on root causes and perfect and document corrections. Future operations rely on clear, complete documentation. If appropriate, publish your findings; chances are other leaders and operations will benefit from your experience.

Polishing off the perfect mistake. It is true mistakes happen, but perfecting mistakes take a lot of hard work. Good leaders plan for, identify, correct and learn from problems. Military necessity often dictates how we treat symptoms and leaves the root causes for after-action reporting. The lessons learned phase is quite possibly the most important phase. Proper analysis and publication will contribute to the success of future operations. Good luck making sure your next mistake is absolutely perfect!