How Leaders Can Turn Mistakes into Learning Moments
Reader Note: The following is a snippet from an interview with Matt Lisowski, former Vice President of Product Management at Intuit, that will be incorporated into Darren Reinke’s upcoming book, The Savage Manager.
USE MISTAKES AS LEARNING MOMENTS
Fail fast. Fail forward. It’s a strategy and approach many leaders take.
But many leaders talk a big game about failing fast, but undermine themselves (and their teams) when failure does occur.
“Everybody says they like to fail fast, learn from our mistakes, and celebrate our failures,” said Matt Lisowski, former Vice President of Product Management at Intuit, during our conversation about what makes the best managers. “But, if you truly believe that you want to fail fast and learn from your mistakes, the key is your reaction in the moment when someone fails.”
“If you say ‘WTF’ or some variant of that, that person will never share a failure with you even though they will continue to make mistakes,” he continued.
Instead of reacting in frustration or even anger, Matt remains focused on the importance of learning from failure.
“I always tell people that I don’t mind making mistakes,” he said. “But, let’s learn from it, and let’s not do it again.”
Matt shared an example to underscore how a manager’s response to mistakes is critical for instilling a culture of failing fast and learning from them.
“One of my senior managers was in charge of a major product revamp,” he said, “and just as we were about to launch, we found out there were major defects.”
“It was actually my marketing leader who found it, came to me, and said, ‘I’m not sure if I’m supposed to speak out of turn, but we’ve got a problem.’”
Matt’s response was crucial in creating an environment where teams feel safe sharing mistakes, enabling a “fail fast, fail forward” mindset. “I said, ‘Thank you for that as I have a very firm stance to never be a senior leader with a secret.’”
“If you know something is wrong, tell the next level up or solve the problem,” he said, highlighting one of his leadership tenets.
Acknowledging and thanking the team member was the first step. Matt then emphasized another key to creating a culture where mistakes become learning opportunities rather than a chance to tear someone down.
“The first question leaders [typically] ask is, ‘Why did it happen?’” Matt said. “This is not the time for root cause analysis—we have to fix the problem.”
Instead, Matt asked, “What’s wrong with the product?” and more importantly, “What are we going to do about it?”
Focusing on “How do we fix it for our customers and the business?” shifts the conversation from blame to problem-solving while creating space to learn from the mistake.
Matt also made sure to keep it about the process, not the person. “When we discussed the [issue], the misses weren’t about the person, it was the process.” Many leaders focus on finding fault, which burns confidence and erodes trust.
Not showing frustration also helped maintain the relationship with his direct report. Staying calm ensured the mistake became a learning moment rather than an opportunity to crush confidence or create fear of future risks—a fear that stifles innovation.
“As a leader, you can be upset, but you can’t show upset,” he noted. “You can be disappointed and upset on the inside, but you really can’t show that to your employee because it’s not going to be helpful in the moment.”
Staying calm can be a challenge for most of us. “You have to find what keeps you centered in these situations,” Matt said. “Because really, it’s the outcome you’re solving for. While it may feel good to release [and blast your team member], it really causes damage to the organization, and it can take time to recover from there.”
Matt also highlighted the importance of making team members feel safe after a mistake.
“In the moment, he was afraid that he would get fired,” Matt explained. “When you ask for a one-on-one out of the blue, people are afraid of being fired. Leaders need to acknowledge that fear.”
Rather than ignore it, Matt addressed his employee’s fear directly. “Recognizing that he was in that mode, I asked some questions to help unpack why he was feeling that way. That was helpful in the moment,” he said. “But it’s more about showing than telling. You can say you’re okay with mistakes, but the ‘show’ part is where it counts, when the pressure’s on.”
“Are you doing what you said? Do you have a high ‘say-do’? Because if you don’t, people won’t trust you,” Matt added, stressing the importance of following through on your word.
The impact of Matt’s approach was profound. His direct report had come from a company where he would have been torn apart for a similar mistake.
After the issue was resolved, his team member reflected on the experience. “Matt, I’ve heard many leaders say what you say, but when it happens, I realize it’s all BS and I get yelled at,” his team member said. “You never raised your voice. You never even showed me you were upset. You just said, ‘Okay, we’re going to fix it, and how are we going to fix it?’”
Put This Into Action
Start leveraging mistakes as learning moments with your team by following these steps:
Make it a Core Value: Declare risk-taking and learning from mistakes as a team value. Add it to your Team Charter and commit to living it daily.
Model It: Declaring a value is one thing. Living up to it is another matter altogether. Lead by example. Share your own mistakes, how you fixed them, and what you learned to show it’s okay to make mistakes and grow from them. Also, reinforce that making mistakes is part of the process of effective risk-taking.
Do What You Say: When mistakes happen, don’t criticize. If you do, you’ll undermine the risk taking culture you are trying to build. Acknowledge the mistakes, quickly shift to coaching, and help your team learn from the experience.
Punt Root Cause Analysis: “How could this happen?” or “Whose fault is it?” are instinctual questions that managers often ask. Focus on fixing the issue first, then analyze the root cause during a post-mortem, not in the heat of the moment.
Coach to Success: The pivot point in resolving and learning from mistakes is coaching. Quickly move from discussing the problem to solving it, using coaching to ensure lessons are learned and growth happens.
Be Upset, Don’t Show Upset: It’s okay to feel frustrated, but don’t let your emotions transfer to the team. Stay calm to keep everyone focused on solutions. Piling on them will ensure they stay stuck in “fight or flight” mode instead of active problem solving mode.
Pre-Empt Emotion with Mindfulness: Staying calm in the moment requires effort, especially when tensions are running high. Prepare yourself to stay calm under pressure through mindfulness practices or by taking a few deep breaths before tough conversations.
Conduct a Post Mortem: Rooting out issues is at the heart of continuous process improvement. After resolving the issue, hold a recap meeting to find the root cause and focus on preventing similar mistakes in the future.
About The Savage Manager
The Savage Manager will focus on the principles that are common to the most successful people leaders and how they apply them in their roles. Each chapter will address a pressing challenge facing managers. It will outline the issue they are facing, why it’s important, and most importantly, provide “how to” recommendations to address each of the challenges. Some of the questions it will answer are the following:
How Do I Motivate and Inspire My Team?
How Do I Create a Sense of Purpose within My Team?
How Do I Create Psychological Safety?
How Do I Communicate Effectively with My Team?
How Do I Increase My Team’s Performance?
How Do I Prevent Employee Turnover?
How Do I Manage Conflict More Effectively within My Team?
How Do I Develop the People on My Team?
How Do I Nurture the Wellbeing of My Team Members?
How Do I Give Feedback to My Team?
How Do I Create Strong Team Chemistry?
How Do I Create a Strong Culture?
How Do I Encourage More Creativity and Innovation?
How Do I Encourage Effective Risk Taking?
How Do I Get My Team to Think More Strategically?
How do I Lead My Team Through Change?