Error Management (not Banishment) Promotes Success

By Robert Cialdini, Ph.D.

In last month’s issue, I discussed what we know about the most effective ways you can benefit from the past mistakes of others.  The topic of this month’s article concerns what we know about how you can best profit from your own past mistakes.

A study in a major psychology journal concluded that a history of setbacks, losses, or hardships—if handled constructively—gives people not downbeat, damaged, tentative personalities but upbeat, healthy, confident ones (King & Hicks, 2007).  Could it be that this effect might apply not just to your personal development but to your professional development as well?  Emerging evidence from something called Error Management Training (EMT) suggests that it well might.  But, the critical component of the process lies in the “if handled constructively” stipulation for success.  Let’s consider two major approaches to handling your previous missteps constructively and turning them into payoffs: (1) using those errors as guides to improvement and (2) using them as opportunities for social influence.

Errors as Guides to Improvement.  Along with his coworkers, Michael Frese (of the University of Giessen in Germany) has explored a novel orientation to training—one that runs wholly counter to conventional training methods that emphasize the suppression of slip-ups and that direct trainees through an error-free learning environment.  Those conventional methods have always seemed reasonable because errors can disrupt workflow, be time consuming to fix, and frustrate trainees as well as their trainers while eroding the confidence of both in the trainee’s abilities.  Yet, when Frese and coauthor Nina Keith examined the results of 24 separate studies, they found the EMT model superior to the traditional, error-avoidance approaches to training (Keith & Frese, 2008).  There are two necessary components to EMT.  The first involves urging trainees to actively explore to-be-learned tasks in order to encounter mistakes and, thereby, to recognize where and how they occur.  The second involves instruction in how best to react, psychologically, once an error is made; the instruction includes trainer feedback such as “Errors are a natural part of the learning process;” “The more errors you make, the more you learn;” and “Errors teach you what you are still able to learn.”   This second element is crucial because, without it, mistakes are experienced as defeats rather than guideposts to success.
 
But, what about when the goal is no longer how to train optimally for job responsibilities but how to execute those responsibilities optimally once you have been on the job for a while?  Under those circumstances, the first component of EMT—looking for chances to fumble the ball—is far from a winning game plan when dealing with real customers, coworkers, and superiors.  However, the second component—thinking of and responding to missteps as learning opportunities—still provides a professional advantage.  If, instead of being an error hunter, you position yourself to become an error opportunist, who looks to cash in on any unintended stumble by learning from it, you and your organization could profit handsomely in the long run. For instance, at recent meetings of the Association for Psychological Science, Professor Frese cited statistics showing that, compared to companies with a weak error management culture, those with a strong error management culture were 400% more likely to be among the most profitable companies in their industry.

Errors as Opportunities for Social Influence.  A while ago one of our top Cialdini Method Certified Trainers (CMCTs), Brian Ahearn of State Auto Insurance, sent me an article from a sales magazine, describing a shock that the COO of a global hotel chain got after reviewing the results of the very costly “Seamless Customer Experience” program his company had put into place.  It wasn’t guests with a seamless stay who reported the highest satisfaction ratings and future loyalty—rather, it was those who experienced a service stumble that was immediately put right by the hotel staff.  There are multiple ways to understand why this occurs.  For example, it may be that, after guests know that the organization can efficiently fix mistakes, they become more confident that the same will be true in any future dealings, leaving them with more favorable feelings toward the organization overall.  I don’t doubt this possibility; but I have a hunch that another factor is at work too: The remedy may well be perceived by guests as “special assistance,” as something the hotel has gone out of its way to provide.  By virtue of the rule for reciprocation, the hotel then becomes deserving of something in return in the form of superior ratings and loyalty.
 
I often talk about this hotel exec’s surprising revelation and my explanations for it when addressing business conferences.  A few months ago, I received confirmation of the reciprocity-based explanation when the General Manager of the resort hotel where I was speaking stood up in the audience and related an incident that had occurred that very day.  A guest had wanted to play tennis with her two young children, but the two child-size racquets the resort maintained were already in use.  So, the GM had a staffer drive immediately to a local sporting goods store, purchase another pair, and deliver them to his guest within 20 minutes of her complaint.  Afterward, the mother stopped by the GM’s office and said, “I’ve just booked our entire extended family into this resort for the Fourth of July weekend because of what you did for me.”
 
Isn’t it interesting that, had the resort stocked those additional two children’s racquets from the outset—in order to ensure its guests a “seamless experience”—their availability would not have been seen as a notable gift or service that warranted special gratitude and subsequent loyalty in return?  In fact, the racquets may have hardly registered as a blip on Mom’s resort experience screen. 
 
What’s the implication for you?  Is it to manufacture thin spots in the ice for clients or coworkers to fall through so you can be there to extricate them?  Not at all.  That would ultimately lead to the perception that dealing with you often requires some form of rescue.  Much preferred is the simple recognition that modern business is too complex to be rendered error-free and that honest mistakes will occur.  The key is to recognize, as well, that directing resources (attention, training systems, staff, budgets) toward the utopian goal of preventing all such glitches is likely to be less effective (and much more expensive) than directing resources to the goal of resolving our self-generated problems quickly and at high levels of satisfaction.
 
By no means does all this imply that quality control is unimportant.  But, it’s a fool’s errand to chase performance perfection, because—besides the reality that everyone’s fallibly human after all—“perfection” means so many different things to different people (customers, for example) that it can’t feasibly be arranged for ahead of time.  Error correction, on the other hand, can be customized after the fact to the aggrieved person’s view of what constitutes a satisfactory (and satisfying) corrective.
 
I’m convinced that it is the unique customizability of a reaction that gives it the potential to be experienced as a personalized gift or service.  That feature brings the social influence leverage of the rule for reciprocation into play, which allows us to make sense of the heightened levels of satisfaction and loyalty that can flow, so paradoxically, from a gaffe.  In short, problem-free may not feel as good in business as problem-freed.

Sources
 
Keith, N., & Frese, M. (2008). Effectiveness of error management training: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 59-69.

King, L. A., & Hicks, J. A. (2007). Whatever happened to “what might have been?” Regret, happiness, and maturity. American Psychologist, 62, 625 -636.

Comments

[Linda]

Like I always say to my son - everyone makes mistakes. It's how you handle the "mistake" that makes the difference. Excellent explanation of the reciprocity factor and how it impacts customer satisfaction.

[Arnold Howard]

Many years ago a paper salesman told me that when someone had a problem with paper, it was his opportunity to build a stronger relationship with that person. I have always remembered that.

[Roxie]

This is another excellent reminder that redirecting the focus to what can move positively, starting from an awareness of what is, will produce win-win results for those involved in the relationship.

[Sarge Bush]

please give me the short version of this article

[Judaism]

“A fool learns from his mistakes, but a wise person learns from the mistakes of others.”

[paul gaffney]

Lots of these wonderfully seamless experiences are delivered in a pretty uniform and standardised manner. When things go wrong or you, the 'customer', want something different it really does sort out the men from the boys. Successful businesses have realised the only route to handling these 'moments of truth' successfully is by really empowering staff to ensure the customer is treated with respect, as an individual and their needs and concerns dealt with as though they were your own.

[Julie Evers]

This was enlightening!

[Louie Apsokardu]

Your information is all very brilliant and intelligent, just like you! Thank you... louie apsokardu

[Jim Tupitza]

In Boy Scouts, we often tell parents that "Failure is an acceptable outcome." When a group of boys on a hike hold a map upside down and make a right turn instead of a left turn, they only learn when they are two hours down the wrong trail, not when an adult adjusts the map.

[Beth A]

The beauty of this article is that it forces the reader to think about his/her own actions on a day-to-day basis. It applies not only to error management but to implementation of the golden rule. When a customer asks for something, the respondent can provide exactly what is requested, or exactly what s/he would like to receive if the situation were reversed. It is the extra effort that is memorable, whether or not is is precipitated by an error.

[Mark]

Failing fast, correcting and trying again before you run out of resources is the risk management strategy many early stage start-ups don't do and thus increase their chances of a complete failure. Steve Blank (Four Steps To The Epiphany) has taught us that failing fast and often on the road to success is the best strategy.

[Jim Tupitza]

Oops spelled my own name wrong