Mistake Maker

Take some time to think about this situation.

You're a bank processor and are loading a clients overdraft request that has been cleared by your Manager. The overdraft request is for an extension of $100,000.00's, which you are now to load into the system and make available to the client.

It's been one of those days and in your haste you load the overdraft incorrectly. Without realising it, you innocently load the client with access to an overdraft of $10,000,000.00's that's right - 10 million dollar's. Well, the electronic flag's at your work are raised immediately (thank goodness), due to the large amount loaded and management are now aware that an error has occurred. For whatever reason, they did not address the problem immediately.

In the mean time, the client, realising his additional overdraft windfall, electronically withdraws 3.8 million dollars and he and his partner quickly leave the country (they do a runner! - bye NZ!).

How would you feel if that really was you that did the processing error?

How would you want to be treated by your employer?

The story continues...

This actually happened a few weeks ago here in Rotorua, New Zealand. This week the lady who made the error, is being brought before a committee and is likely to lose her job as a result of her oversight. The papers report that she is "no-spring chicken" and has 30 years experience in the banking industry. It looks as though she will be sacked from her job due to her mistake and be unable to pay the mortgage on her house. Oh, and her Manager only got a warning and remains employed with the bank. This is a true story!

Your Reaction

Consider these questions:

• How do you react when someone you're managing makes a mistake, causes an error or does something wrong or out of character?


• How do you speak to them?


• How do you treat them?


• How do you approach them?


• Do you seek to understand them and show compassion towards them?


• Do you forgive and pardon them?


• Do you evaluate all the circumstances and the different perspectives unemotionally?


• Do you seek for a positive outcome for all those involved?


• Do you negatively escalate the situation emotionally, beyond what it should be?


• Do you at every opportunity throw their mistake back at them to remain dominate over them?
• Do you take advantage of the situation to exert your dominance over them and belittle them?


• Do you make the most of the opportunity to gently bring them to an awareness of the cost of the situation and seek to support them through the learning they can gain, from having made this error in judgement?

Quite a few YES or NO questions aren't there!

How do you typically react when your son's or daughters make a mistake. How do you treat your friends, workmates or an unknown driver in the car in front of you on the motorway, when they screw up?

Personally, I've made some humongous mistakes in my life. I'm very likely going to make many more.

Have you? have you made a mistake or 2? And if so, how did you like to be treated when that happened to you? How would you prefer to have been approached? How would you like the ensuing conversation to be carried out?

The Situation

There are 2 sides that need to be considered for a truly successful outcome to occur when mistakes are made. There's the response from the person who made the mistake and there is the response from the person who is directly affected by the mistake. I'm focusing here, on your response to someone making a mistake that affects you. In a later article I will focus on how to respond when you are the person making the mistake.

In this instance (best case scenario) the person who has made the mistake is taking full responsibility for the mistake they have made (no excuses). They accept liability and are accountable for it. They also are hurt that they did it and saddened by their lack of accuracy, skill or attention which has caused the error to occur. They may even have bought the error to your attention and could have successfully blamed others for it or hidden it and you wouldn't have known about it at all. This is the type of person who has made the mistake (for the sake of this article).

NOW... how would you treat them, how would you deal with the situation?

Depending on how you do deal with this will determine a number of things:

• Whether they will come to you in future when they make other mistakes.


• Whether they fear you and the consequences that they'll receive again if they make a mistake.


• Whether they will try to lie their way out of a similar situation in the future.


• Whether they will learn that taking responsibility for your mistakes is the right thing to do.


• Whether they grow from the experience and learn to never make it again.


• Whether they learn to be compassionate and forgiving to others who make mistakes that impact their lives.


• Whether they begin to lose their confidence and make more mistakes.

Pretty powerful stuff, aye! (all dependent on how you respond).

And all this is highly dependant on how you will respond to them when the make an error, an oversight, poor lack of judgement or in the bank processors example, a misplaced decimal point!!!

Make a list of how you would like to be treated when you make a mistake.


See if your list aligns with some of the key points that I've listed below, that will ensure a positive outcome is reached when you're faced with having to deal with a person who has made a mistake which they are taking responsibility for.

• Step away from the emotion of the situation. (cool off if you have too)


• Suspend your judgement and opinions (start with a blank slate)


• Seek to understand how this came to happen. (ask questions for clarity)


• Listen to them without interrupting them.


• Support them emotionally.


• Show them compassion & empathy for how they feel for what they have done (doesn't mean you agree with what they have done).


• Seek to find a positive solution for all parties involved (solution based focus)


• Ask what they have learnt and what they will do to ensure this does not happen again.


• Be forgiving and seek to understand the situation from their perspective


• Speak to them in a gentle tone of voice and manner. (no yelling and throwing your arms around)


• Create a safe environment for them to speak honestly and openly to you about what happened.


• Make the time and place appropriate to discuss what happened.


• Thank them for being responsible and accountable for their part in the mistake.

Well there you go! You now have a few more ideas on how to address this situation when it happens to you (it will if it hasn't already), whether you are a mum, son, or senior manager.

(oh, and a plug at schools - you also need to get better at doing this too! Read an upcoming article titled "What are you teaching them?")


I hope that you'll be more aware of the role that you play, when faced with having to deal with someone who has made a mistake in your life and the mistake, accident or error impacts you. It's a defining moment for you both. If dealt with correctly, it can become an opportunity to grow you both.




Oh, as for the bank processor story told at the beginning:



"What a pathetic way to deal with an honest and innocent mistake made by one of your employee's.

Shame on you WESTPAC BANK!"

For more background on this banking blunder, click on:

http://www.3news.co.nz/National/Story/tabid/423/articleID/105533/cat/640/Default.aspx