What to do when you drop the ball

[XOMichelle]

Hey...
So recently I really made a lot of mistakes in a project at work. Most of them happened because I am really bad at paying attention to details, and I was very engrossed in another unrelated project. Has anyone else been in a situation like this? I took responsibility for the mistakes, and had a conversation with my boss about trying to improve. We are about a week behind schedule because of my errors (not the end of the world, but annoying). I'm just hoping this won't sit over my head for very long. Has anyone else recovered from something like this?
-Michelle

[Rudey]

Hide them so nobody finds the mistakes.

-Rudey

[aephi alum]

If I were you, I'd offer to put in some extra time at the office to fix some of the problems. Any reasonable boss will understand that everyone makes mistakes and will appreciate the extra effort you put in to make things right and try to get back on schedule. It shows you're a team player, and that will help you come review time.

[AlphaXiGirl]

Well, I am a boss, and I, of course, have employees that have made mistakes... one employee cost the company $26,000 last week... a few years ago, I had an employee that cost the company 4 x's that... which is about double their annual salary. They are both still with the company and, I promoted the earlier employee not too long ago. So yes, you can overcome this.

I have yet to fire an employee that made a mistake if: (1) They own up to it - sometimes you just have to fall on the sword (2) They learn from it - sometimes mistakes are the only real way to find out that there is a flawed policy or procedure, or find someone's weaknesses, (3) They take ownership of finding a resolution to the issue, and (4) They take steps to improve. Do those things and you will probably be fine.

It sounds like attention to detail may be an issue for you right now. Do whatever it takes to improve. You may want to find a trusted friend that will proof read your work - after you have proof read it three times yourself.

[Rudey]

The last poster doesn't know what she's talking about. Cover it up really well and don't do a half assed job about it. Make sure nobody knows. If your boss figures it out, download childporn on their computer and call the cops.

Remember you might fess up and do alright in the future or you can hide it and get away with it and be the perfect employee who doesn't need to be chastised.

-Rudey

[justamom]

From another business manager's point of view.

The first thing I would look at is how easy I could replace you. I know that sounds cold, but-it's business. It takes a lot of time, effort and cash to train a new employee. Plus, sometimes your area doesn't have enough skilled employees.

aephi alum has the best advice for mending fences in the immediate future. (Excellent actually)

However, time is money...IF you cost MY business MONEY as in a lot of money , it would be felt and therefore, I would be POed. If this is a multi million dollar company or one that has a lot of employees, you may be OK, but stuck for YEARS at your current level.

I know there may be some more accepting "bosses". It would really boil down to how much you contribute to the success of the business. If in the big picture, you have made/saved money for the company, then your confession of this oversite may be enough. YOU MUST work your butt off toward redemption. If you are not an integral part of the team, start looking and keep looking over your shoulder, cause your head may be on the block.
Like they say-It's just business.

[XOMichelle]

Thanks for the advice. I looked into what happened, and basically I made lots of data-entry errors. It didn't cost us too much, only an extra two days of time.

I talked to some people who hire data entry companies, and I have learned that the standard way to enter data is to have two people enter a list, then compare the two. In our protocol, I was the only person involved in entering any data. According to the data industry's norms, I am expected to make mistakes, but there should be another person involved in checking the data. I've started to do a little bit of research about it, but I think the proofing my boss ended up doing should be part of our protocol, but done by someone else. This is the first year anyone has ever doen this study (and actually, this is my boss' first real position after getting her PhD), so I think this error can be fixed by 1) entering a small amount of data at one time and 2) having someone proof the entered lists to fix mistakes. Not having this as a step in our procedure was a mistake, although luckily it ended up being one in the end.

And whomever said it was right, I do relly need to work on attention to detail. It's just not my thing, which is annoying since everything depends on detail. Ug!

[justamom]

That sounds like such good news! I have been worried about you. Two days is not a lot of time, especially since your boss is new and learning too. PLUS, you're developing a more efficient protocol, and that in itself is worth so much time and money on the other end. I would say you have more than redeemed yourself! In fact, you could be on the road to making yourself indespensible-that's where it's at! Good for you!

[XOMichelle]

Thanks, JAM!

I don't think my head is on the chopping block, this is the only mistake I've made in my first 6 months of my first job-- and both my boss and I were on vacations during the time it happened (well, I was taking time off to study for the MCAT. All the time off contributed to the crunch that led to the errors). So, I've been working hard to get all the other things done that need to be done for the other projects I am on. All should be well, I just need to go get some more proof about the data entry stuff. We have a few data managers in our office, so once this survey stuff is done (we finish mailing today) I can track one down.

[AGDee]

Michelle,

I do computer network support for a biostatistics and research epidemiology department. We have a double data entry system and most NIH (National Institute of Health) grants/research projects require them. Each data entry clerk enters the information on the form separately and then they run a verification to see where the errors are. They have to then take the form and look to see which is the correct information. When they reach no errors, they have to print out the verification and staple it to the hard copy. The data entry system was developed by an Access programmer in Visual Basic. This is most definitely standard practice if you don't have a scanned form. I will see if I can find out some more references to it for you.

Dee

ETA: Making a mistake is human. I've worked for departments where everybody tried to blame each other because they were so harsh if you made a mistake. Where I work now, if you screw up, you say "I screwed up this, this is what I plan to do to fix it" and usually someone says "Do you need help fixing it?" It's a much better way to work! I have a lot more respect for someone who can admit that they made a mistake, caught it and are willing to do what it takes to fix it.

[XOMichelle]

Dee-
Thank you!!! That information helps a lot. I talked to my boss yesterday and pitched my ideas about the new protocol (and writing everything down so we had a written record of what was done this year). She seemed to like it, and she liked that I had taken time to think about it. So, I think all will be well.

My office is pretty good about mistakes, except for my boss, who is possibly the most anal person here (she's a little harsher than the rest) . Although, it helps sometimes because you have to be anal when there are thousands of other picky people running around. Unfortunately, many many things escape my eye, which needs to be re-trained to be better at chatching small details. So in a way, we are a good match. She is helping me to be a better worker.

You work in epidemiology? I work in education policy research, but my first love is Public Health and epidemiology. I really want to get an MD/MPH and work on public health and health policy. What kind of research do you do?
-Michelle

[AGDee]

I do their computer support... run their servers, keep their data secure, keep their workstations running, etc.

My department though, does that work! I work for a major health care system in Michigan and they do research design, statistics as well as data collection for all the research within our health care system. Several of our epidemiologists have their own grants (allergy, asthma, cancer research, alzheimers are our biggest grants right now) for their own projects. Our most well known Epidemiologist is a Gamma Phi Beta who is world reknowned for her allergy and asthma studies.

Dee

[XOMichelle]

Very cool!! That the kid of research I would eventually like to do. :-)
Anyway, the bad dust here has pretty much blown over. I have lots of work to do, but I am really working on "working smarter".

Thanks for your suggestions and support!