5 Reasons Why Your Team are Making Mistakes and What You Can Do About It

"I can't sleep at night knowing that our clients are receiving subpar work because of our mistakes. I'm tired of apologising for errors that could have been avoided"

Sound familiar?

We all make mistakes. But repeated and avoidable mistakes are not okay. They can really hurt your reputation and no one likes having to start again!

This newsletter looks at 5 reasons why your team are making mistakes and what you can do about it.

Let’s dive in!

Reason 1: People Miss Process Steps

Why: They Are Too Busy or Can't Remember The Process

Maybe the process isn't done often enough or maybe people are just too busy and can't remember exactly what to do; so they make mistakes.

What to Do: Make a Checklist

I love checklists they are so simple but so powerful. List out each step or task that needs to be completed and ensure that it is used when people undertake that process. No more guess work, no more trying to remember, just tick the boxes.

Reason 2: It Was Noticed Too Late

Why: The Mistake Happened and No One Noticed

The error occurred in the process at a stage where it wasn't visible. Maybe the impact couldn't be seen or maybe it was automated so no one was watching. It happened but it's damage is yet to be seen.

What to Do: Put in Place a Poke Yoke or Fail Safe

When you notice this kind of error find it's point of origin and put a fail safe in place. A Poke Yoke (as it is known in Japan) is something that makes it literally impossible for that error to occur. The blender doesn't work unless the lid is clicked in. The lift won't go unless the doors are closed. Can you put a fail safe in place, even if it is just an additional check point? It may save a lot of redone work!

Reason 3: You Didn't See it Coming

Why: You Didn't Anticipate the Issue and Now It's a Big Problem

You (and your team) simply didn't see it coming. Maybe it is a catalogue of small errors; maybe it's a mindset or morale thing; maybe someone left the project team. Either way an issue has come up and you just weren't expecting it.

What to Do: A 'Pre-mortum': Get Together Before the Project and Imagine it was a Disaster - Brainstorm What you Could Have Done

This is a really powerful technique. By thinking as a team in advance about what could go wrong you can calmly put in place preventative measures. It is pretty fun imagining the worst knowing you are going to pre-fix it. And no one gets through under the bus, you are talking in hypotheticals.

Reason 4: You're Not Fixing Root Causes

Why: When an Error Occurs you Just Workaround it Until it Comes Up Again

Sometimes it is death by a million paper cuts. Each error as it occurs is small so you just deal with it there and then; paper over the crack; that'll do for now. But no one goes back and fixes the root of the problem. It happens again, you get annoyed and put in place the same workaround.

What to Do: Keep an Error Tracker

An error tracker is a really simple spreadsheet or list where you take a note every time an issue occurs. After a week or month look through that list and address the root of the ones that occur most often or have the longest impact to fix.

Reason 5: Someone Else is to Blame

Why: The Error Occurred Under One Team's Watch and They Didn't Know it Would Cause a Problem for the Next

Sometimes unknowingly a mistake is made by one team that has a massive impact on the next but they just don't know it does. They aren't trying to make a downstream's team life hard they just don't know.

What to Do: Talk to Each Other. Agree Protocols for Hand Off Points

Sit down and talk, explain what happens in your bit and what you need from the previous bit. As a team agree what the requirements for a good hand off are and stick to them; maybe make another checklist.

Eliminating those Errors Will

… not only make your clients happier it will make your teams happier too. No one likes starting again, no one likes dealing with complaints. Figuring out how to stop the errors before they happen and you will have a happy team and happy clients.

I hope these techniques help you make fewer mistakes.

P.S

This is the third newsletter in a series that will look at the most common struggles small businesses who want to streamline internal processes and get the most from their teams face.

Future issues will look at:

➡ Why Your Teams Are Operating in their Own Bubbles;

➡ Why Your Team Feels Overwhelmed and Burned Out;

➡ Why Your Team Is Leaving Profit on The Table ;

➡ Why You Have No Visibility Into Team Progress

 ....And What To Do About It

Hit Subscribe if you don't want to miss these.

You can also catch the previous editions:

➡ 5 Reasons Why Your Team is Drowning in Mundane Repetitive Tasks and What You Can Do About It

➡ 5 Reasons Why Your Team is Missing Deadlines and What You Can Do About It

I'm Rebecca and I help busy business owners with growing teams sort out their business operations, processes & systems so they can step back with confidence.

If you want to begin your operational streamlining journey, but aren't sure where to start ➡take my free assessment and pinpoint where your operations falls short and develop a plan to tackle it. HERE. (Get your free report on where the gaps are in the way work gets done by answering a few questions about your business)