It’s tempting to try to build leadership credibility by always being right and never admitting mistakes. This strategy almost always backfires.
Leaders who strive to appear flawless may believe they’re building respect and confidence, but reality often tells a different story. Perfection isn’t credible. Admitting mistakes and demonstrating accountability strengthens leadership, builds trust and creates a more resilient, effective team.
Create sustainable success
Leaders who admit mistakes and share what they’ve learned foster an environment of transparency and mutual respect, which is far more conducive to long-term success. By contrast, leaders who project an image of perfection often set themselves up for failure. Not only is perfection unsustainable, but holding on to impossible standards is bad for your health and can make you miserable in the process. According to an article in Self.com, perfectionism keeps your sympathetic nervous system activated, triggering the fight or flight response, ramping up the production of stress and affecting your sleep.
Pretending to be flawless can also alienate teams. It creates unrealistic expectations and inhibits open communication. For example, if the leader seems perfect, employees may hide mistakes from the team and try to emulate perfection by skewing the numbers, fibbing on reports and defending poor decisions.
Increase responsibility and accountability
Taking ownership and acknowledging mistakes bridges the gap between responsibility and accountability — two essential yet distinct leadership qualities. Responsibility is about ownership. When leaders take responsibility for their mistakes, they demonstrate that they own their decisions and actions. Accountability, on the other hand, is about measurement. It ensures that leaders’ actions align with team and organizational goals, holding them to a standard of performance.
By admitting mistakes, leaders embody both qualities: they take ownership of their missteps and measure their behavior against the values and expectations of their role. This dual act not only reinforces credibility but also sets a powerful example for the team. A leader’s willingness to say, “I got it wrong,” showcases integrity and creates an environment where team members feel safe to do the same.
Transform mistakes into growth
Mistakes aren’t just inevitable; they’re valuable. Admitting missteps allows leaders to reflect, learn, and improve. This growth mindset sets an example for the team, showing that errors are not the end of the world but rather stepping stones to improvement. When leaders model responsibility, they encourage their teams to embrace challenges and seek solutions rather than dwell on blame.
Admitting mistakes also helps build a learning environment where growth is prioritized over perfection. Teams become more innovative and resilient when they see mistakes as opportunities for progress, not points of failure. Leaders who admit their errors send a clear message: learning and adapting are part of the process.
Model conflict management
When leaders hide mistakes, blame others or avoid conversations, it signals that conflict is dangerous and should be avoided, but conflict is never the real problem. The problem is always mismanagement, and hiding mistakes equals mismanagement.
Admitting mistakes models conflict capacity, the ability to deal with other people’s emotions when the stakes are high. When leaders openly acknowledge errors and take steps to correct them, they demonstrate that conflict can be handled constructively and collaboratively. This teaches teams that it’s okay to confront challenges and resolve disagreements in a way that strengthens the group dynamic rather than weakening it. Transparency and honesty create an environment where teams learn to address issues early and collaboratively, turning potential conflicts into opportunities for growth.
Create psychological safety
One of the most profound impacts of admitting mistakes is the creation of psychological safety. A study published in The Open Psychology Journal found that team psychological safety positively influences learning behavior, team efficacy and work quality, indicating that leaders who promote psychological safety can enhance overall team performance.
Teams thrive when members feel safe to speak up, share ideas and acknowledge errors without fear of blame or retribution. When leaders admit their own mistakes, they set the tone for a blame-free environment where transparency and collaboration flourish. In this atmosphere, team members are more likely to take calculated risks, innovate and work through challenges constructively.
Build strong relationships
Transparency fosters trust, and trust strengthens relationships. Fred Luskin, director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, emphasizes that genuine apologies facilitate forgiveness, which is crucial for repairing relational bonds. “Apology is one of the few things that research shows actually facilitates forgiveness,” Luskin explains. In the podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart with host Matt Abrahams, Luskin outlines what it means to truly say we’re sorry.
Admitting a mistake can be as simple as saying, “I realize I mismanaged that situation. I’d like to make it right.” These moments of honesty can repair trust and demonstrate that the leader values relationships over ego. Stronger relationships lead to greater loyalty and commitment from the team.
Leadership isn’t about being perfect; it’s about being credible. Admitting mistakes builds trust, demonstrates accountability, fosters growth and strengthens relationships. Most importantly, it creates a culture where team members feel safe to learn, grow and collaborate. The next time you face a misstep, remember that admitting it isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a hallmark of strong, credible leadership.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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