I’m the boss and I messed up

A reader writes:

I supervise a small team of four at a software company. My team is amazing: reliable, fast, accurate, amiable, etc. I couldn’t ask for better people to manage, and I’m proud of the work we accomplish each day.

That’s why I’m particularly embarrassed that I made a noticeable mistake at work today. We have a task that requires each team member to show up to work early, rotating through all members of the team, including me. I didn’t arrive to complete this task, which means a few of my subordinates covered for me when they arrived at their normal start time. While this didn’t ultimately affect our software’s stability, it certainly could have. I immediately notified our work chat that I’m mortified about the oversight and plan to make up for it by taking someone else’s early start this week. I also plan to directly verbally address it during our team meeting, reasserting that I am held to the same to the same expectations and standards as everyone on the team. And of course, moving forward, I will do everything in my power to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

But my question more generally is: how do managers hold themselves accountable to their subordinates when they make a mistake? And I was wondering if you thought my response sufficient, or is there something more I should do to ensure my team can trust me.

What makes this stickier is that I have a chronic mental health issue that contributed to me failing at this task. And I discussed the health issue with my own supervisor, but it seemed inappropriate to bring it up with my direct reports. Do you agree? If I continue to struggle despite my best efforts, what would be the best way to address that matter professionally?

I answer this question — and four others — on the Ask a Manager podcast today. Other questions I’m answering there today include:

• Sending blind emails to out-of-town hiring managers
• Being a frequent crier at work
• Difficult employee resigned but now wants to stay
• Asking for a shortened work week

The show is 28 minutes long, and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, the iHeartRadio app, or wherever else you get your podcasts (or here’s the direct RSS feed). Or you can listen above.

If you want to hear your question on the show, email it podcast@askamanager.org or record it on the show voicemail at 855-426-WORK (855-426-9675).

You can find transcripts of previous episodes here. (The transcript for today’s show will be released in the next week.)

You may also like:

• my employee argues and debates every little assignment and decision
• my employee keeps making a show of editing my work — and it’s obnoxious
• is my employee lying about using sick time for the Super Bowl?

I’m the boss and I messed up was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

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