2 crucial steps to remember when a finance staffer makes a serious mistake

How managers and supervisors handle their employees’ mistakes has a big effect on trust, morale and productivity. When leaders handle these situations poorly, it can damage staffers’ confidence and trust, thus making them less likely to report mistakes they discover in the future.

To be clear, the mistakes that need to be addressed properly are the ones that can damage a company’s finances, hurt a relationship with a customer or put the business in legal hot water. The more a finance staffer is trusted to handle, the more likely he or she will make a mistake increases.

Bottom line: CFOs know an employee’s not learning (or handling enough tasks) if he or she doesn’t make mistakes along the way. That’s a simple fact of work.

Keep these two steps in mind when folks screw up and you’ve got to have a sit-down:

1. Let the employee accept responsibility

Some mistakes are a group effort or the result of an outside party. But if it’s the employee’s fault, let him or her take the blame.

Owning up to an error will help improve the person’s performance and decision-making down the road. No need for multiple apologies. Just assign the staffer to work on fixing the problem (if possible) so that he’ll understand what went wrong.

2. Evaluate how the mistake happened

After the mistake is fixed, figure out why the mistake occurred. Ask yourself if the error may have been the result of factors such as:

• lack of quality control
• minimal training
• ineffective communication, or
• vague/outdated company policies.

If one or more were factors, address them to prevent future occurrence. Also let the staffer know if one of these external factors contributed to his or her goof.

If none of these factors apply, then sit down with the employee and ask her why she thinks it happened. Explain from the get-go you’re not interested in assigning blame or punishing her. You just want to understand what happened.