Career mistakes happen to everyone, including the most experienced and pragmatic of individuals.

Thankfully, many are not career-ending mistakes. Although your stress level won’t suggest this at the time.

They can be caught and addressed in a timely and relatively straightforward fashion, squashing any chance of them morphing into major work snafu status.

The real damage will occur, however, if your mistakes become habits.

Repeated mistakes can result in a double-tragedy: wrecking business processes, as well as wrecking your professional reputation.

The key is to take accountability for the mistake at work when it is yours, correct the behaviour promptly, and convert it into a teachable moment.

Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter and, particularly, mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more of who you are.

Oprah

Here are career mistakes that are frequently made, and tips on how to manage those situations so that you can either avoid making them, or repeating them if you are already an offender!

Career Mistakes #1: Taking a linear-only approach

Considering your professional ambitions from a strictly linear perspective is a mis-step in your career progression planning (and hampers your personal development as well). It means that you aren’t opening yourself up to the full spectrum of potential opportunities!

Recommended Approach

Discovery

Read books and online content, listen to podcasts, take courses that cross a variety of genres. Discover what other topics pique your interest and explore those further. Do this continuously.

Let the sparks fly

Learning new skills outside of your current specialization is an excellent way to bring the spark back into your career or, to stay motivated throughout the course of it.

Apply new knowledge and skills where you see fit

You can choose to pivot on your path and pursue a new field.

However, new interests do not have to equate to moving off your current track.

You can also leverage them to amplify it. You heard that right – incorporate new learnings into aspects of your current role. Imagine being able to present greater multi-dimensional ideas and output to your team!

Also read: Your Career Should Be the Ultimate Treasure Hunt

Career Mistakes #2: Not listening to your target audience

A big reason why individuals and businesses fail to connect with their intended audience is due to faulty communication.

Are you so eager to share your opinions or product offering that you end up speaking more than listening? If this occurs, don’t be surprised if you fail to secure further engagement with that audience.

Recommended Approach

Make it a quality interaction

Use communication opportunities, whether it be with internal colleagues, or with external partners or clients, to understand the needs of your audience. Genuinely listen so that you can fully grasp the message they want to convey.

Build respect with attentive listening

Let your client or colleague feel heard.

Who doesn’t value the interaction with a person who appears to be genuinely locked in to our conversation, who does not appear distracted as we speak.

Dig deeper

Ask questions and don’t be shy! Ask as many as needed to give you a clear picture of the speaker’s idea or vision.

Non-verbal communication

Observe the cues of speakers. There are often insights which you can glean from unspoken communication as well. Was that heightened alertness you noticed in their eyes when you mentioned a new service in the pipeline?

Also read: 8 Lessons From Honeybees, Excellent Life Coaches

Career Mistakes #3: Sharing ideas prematurely

There are a couple of risks associated with sharing ideas pre-maturely. 

Presenting an idea that is “half-baked” often fails to inspire confidence in your proposal if the details are still too shaky to demonstrate measurable benefits to your audience.

You need a solid proof of concept first.

Recommended Approach

Have exploratory conversations

Ask questions to get a sense of whether there is a legitimate need and an appetite for a solution.

Research and preparation

Get the backing of relevant stakeholders by producing a well-researched proposal which you can confidently deliver and speak to when questions are raised.

As part of that process, consider all critical feedback received. Of course you want to integrate helpful suggestions into your work so that the new and improved version dazzles even more in its effectiveness!

Act

A clear path between concept and solution has been now established. Keep making forward progress. Handle follow-up actions immediately and move on to the next step of your plan while you have the ears of your intended audience.

Let’s make this happen!

Career Mistakes #4: Over-sharing information

The blunder of over-sharing happens to the best of us. 

You may do so unwittingly by divulging information to someone whose goals are not aligned with those of your team’s.

Or, you may consciously provide an excess of details in a misguided effort to build trust and show greater transparency with another party. The person on the receiving end may exploit the situation when armed with more than the required level of knowledge. 

Gaining credibility does not have to come at the cost of over-sharing. 

Recommended Approach

Situation analysis

Evaluate the situation and identify the core business needs.

Audience analysis

Understand the motivation of your audience. Why do they need this information? How can they utilize it within their scope of duty and how can you add value?

When you are armed with this knowledge, you can craft the response in a manner that will serve them in the most beneficial manner possible. 

Meet the specific need

Respond with the specific details needed, keeping the communication within the scope of the requirement. 

Again, we can achieve both authenticity and transparency without over-sharing information.

Career Mistakes #5: Working in isolation 

Autonomy is a job element which many of us value tremendously. It inspires creative expression and positive engagement on tasks.

However, having autonomy does not mean that you single-handedly manage a piece of work from start to finish without conferring with anyone. That is not autonomy. It is working in isolation and in doing so, you miss the opportunity to enhance your project efforts via collaborative input. 

Recommended Approach

Ask for help or feedback

Do not be afraid to ask for help or feedback. People are often happy to offer advice and assist in steering you in a good direction if called upon. But they cannot know that they can be of value if you don’t reach out.

Two heads are better than one. Four eyes are better than two.

If you are managing a critical piece of work, get a second pair of eyes on it before the final delivery.

Fresh eyes bring fresh perspective. Collaboration often attracts valuable feedback that even the brightest or more experienced minds have not considered. 

Career Mistakes #6: Providing emotional responses

Anger is a potent spice. A pinch wakes you up; too much dulls your senses.

Harry Beltik to Beth Harmon on the Netflix mini-series, “The Queen’s Gambit”

This is a wonderful quote from the Netflix show, The Queen’s Gambit which should certainly be heeded in the context of the office as well. In this scene, fellow chess player, Harry Beltik warns Beth Harmon on the blinding effect that anger can have on her game.

Related Post: 8 Quotes From The Queen’s Gambit Every Professional Should Hear

Have you ever found yourself not responding to a work situation in a constructive manner as a result of being annoyed with a team member, or being disenchanted with a process?

Personal feelings towards a subject can get in the way of you providing an unbiased response. It hampers productivity. 

In general, when a clouded perspective is added to the feedback mechanism it means that you run the risk of  compromising both yourself and the business outcome.  

Recommended Approach

It is critical to display emotional intelligence when in the workplace. Particularly when faced with an unsavoury situation or interaction.

Take a step back

Here is a scenario which many of us know all too well. An email arrives in the inbox and it instantly produces major frustration or irritation. It is a common instinct to start typing furiously and respond immediately (with what is usually an equally feisty response).

For the love of your sanity and that of the team’s, do not hit ‘Send’. Leave that thread for a bit and come back to it when you have a calmer disposition.

Keep your professional hat on.  

Don’t say the first thing that pops into your head, have a little bit of a (self) edit function, that’s good advice for life.

Barack Obama

Acknowledge your mental roadblock & recalibrate

If you aren’t approaching a situation fairly, acknowledge your failure to think objectively as a first step to moving in a more productive direction.

Revisit objectives of the work at hand and ensure that you are primarily focused on responding to the business need.

At some point of time in each of our careers we make mis-steps. Admittedly, some sting more than others.

The most pronounced effect that your mistakes should have on you however, is their growth effect.

Mistakes should not be viewed as obstacles on your journey, but rather as opportunities for learning. Embrace the flawed moments and use them to shape your continued growth. That said, learn from them quickly and avoid repeating these career blunders. Once is enough!