Every mistake is an opportunity. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s a chance to make your product, team, or company better.

A mistake is nothing more than a gap between what you expected to happen, and what actually happened. And in that gap is a chance to learn.

Whether you take that opportunity or sweep the mistake under the rug is what separates great teams from mediocre ones.

Early in my career, I started using something called the 5 Whys. You ask “why?”—again and again—until you hit the root cause. Tiny mistakes? Not worth it. Big mistakes? Absolutely brilliant. By the end of my time in the startup we'd done over 250 5-whys. Not because we were utterly rubbish and incompetent - far from it, but because we were always looking for ways to make the business better.

And the beauty of this isn’t just finding the cause—it’s discovering how we could have prevented it, measured it, or learned from it at every step.

And here's the thing. Pushing boundaries and growing is a very creative human endeavour - and humans make mistakes - so mistakes are simply part of a striving business.

Here’s the reality: most mistakes aren’t because someone wanted to mess up. People don’t set out to fail. Most of us actually hate making mistakes.

So why do they happen?

  • The workload is too much. People can’t focus.
  • Instructions are unclear. Who is supposed to do what?
  • The systems or tools aren’t there—or aren’t working.
  • Expectations don’t align. One person expects A, another expects B.
  • Feedback is missing. Minor errors pile up into big ones.
  • People are stressed, burned out, distracted.
  • There’s no process, guideline, or playbook.

A lot of these aren’t individual failings. They’re management failings. And that’s the important bit: as a manager or leader, mistakes in your team are yours to own.

How should you respond when someone makes a mistake? Calmly. With composure. With grace.

  • Gather facts, understand the consequences, get the context - and get clear on what has happened and what the impact is.
  • Don’t panic. Don’t yell. Don’t humiliate.
  • Contain it, communicate clearly, and learn from it.
  • Then figure out how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. 5-Whys are good for this.

Think about it this way: if you made the mistake, how would you want your manager to react? Treat others that way.

Mistakes are fine. Repeating them is not.

The first mistake? Opportunity to make the business better.
The second? A warning - and another chance to make the business better.
The third? This is a pattern - and clearly something you need to fix.

Use each one to improve the system: more training, better guidance, clearer processes, or just better support.

Don't make it unsafe to make mistakes though - actually embrace them - and aim not to repeat them.

Good companies should want innovation, creativity and the pushing of boundaries of delivery - so make the environment safe for mistakes. Fear kills innovation.

The worst thing you can do is make people afraid to fail. When fear rules, creativity dies.

But not all mistakes are equal. Give people responsibility they can handle - don't let the mistakes come because someone is out of their depth.

A new teammate shouldn’t be managing the live systems alone. Nor should someone unfamiliar with a process make a decision that could break a system. People need mistak-ability matched to experience—a safe sandbox to grow and learn.

And remember this: mistakes in your team belong to you. You hired them. You trained them. You put them in this system. If something goes wrong, it’s on you to fix it, to teach, and to improve the process.

The best managers do three things:

  1. Let people make mistakes.
  2. Ensure everyone learns from them.
  3. Improve the system and support the team.

It’s hard. Exhausting even. But when it works, it’s incredible. A team that isn’t afraid to fail is a team that pushes boundaries, innovates, and grows. Mistakes are just a part of that journey - and each one is nothing more than an opportunity to make the business, and our people, better.

Key takeaways (if you need a quick hit):

  • Mistakes = opportunities. Study the gap between expectation and reality.
  • Most mistakes are systemic, not personal.
  • Calm response > reactive blame.
  • Make it safe to fail, and you’ll spark innovation.
  • Align mistakes with skill level.
  • Own the mistakes in your team. It’s on you to fix them.
A great manager turns mistakes into growth. They make their team better—not by punishing failure, but by learning from it.
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