Ollie Scott’s Post

I made a mistake that I'm still ashamed of 🤦♂️ I saw an interesting job opening by our large corporate client. It was directly in the alley of the services provided by my company and I wanted to know more about it so I applied for the job. 6 months later I got a surprise interview invitation. I learned about their needs and then pitched our services, thinking I've just solved their challenge of finding someone to do it. However, the customer was very upset - I had not acted in a good faith and I had been untransparent about my intentions. Their trust towards us as a service provider became under scrutiny as the hiring manager notified our client of the incident 😳 At times like these, it's important to be able to apologise effectively. The salaries of my team depended on it. This is how you own your mistakes and give a great apology: 1️⃣ Recognise the damage caused to the victim and empathise with their position 2️⃣ Show that you understand your detrimental actions in the incident (e.g. I was dishonest in my application, which made you feel exploited) 3️⃣ Repair the damage, if it's not too late. Compensate the victim, if it's too late 4️⃣ Learn from the mistake to take the measures preventing recurrence (and show it by sharing the right way of acting in such scenarios) Fight the instinct to dismiss a mistake. After these painful steps, the other party knows they can count on you even when things go south. Curiously, sometimes this can even improve the trust in the relationship 🤝 💡"When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don't repeat it." – Paul Bear Bryant ❓How do you muster the courage to own your mistakes? Have you experienced the positive impact after doing that? — ♻️ Repost if this idea would be useful to your network. This post on #leadership was number 10 of my lessons learned. See my previous post on happiness here: https://lnkd.in/dvJMfHzw

Honey of My Failures Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt - marvelous error!- that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs  and sweet honey  from my old failures. —Antonio Machado I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how my old failures and mistakes have shaped my character and the way I perceive not only myself, but the world around me. I have been wanting to share a mistake about reporting structures that I made long ago as a much younger professional and aide. It was a failure that became honey as it transformed the way I see organizational structures and workplace dynamics. I had just started working for a very prominent person and my role mandated that I had access and agency around their business, as well as their personal life. At the time, I didn’t report directly into this person and they were not necessarily approachable or even present, so it felt to me quite a sticky situation as I was being directed to inform my supervisor of things I felt quite confidential and inappropriate to share. I was unsure how to navigate the situation and asked my supervisor that I become this person’s direct report. My request created a perceived threat I had not intended and I dealt with the consequences of that one ask for the rest of my tenure there. Years later, having now held numerous leadership positions that reported into prominent people, as well as consulting and coaching senior executives and rebuilding organizational structures, I see very clearly what I learned from that mistake. Titles and reporting structures are inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. What is important is how and whom you engage with in the workplace, and that you have mentors that see something in you. It is rarely beneficial to report into the President/CEO - they usually (not always!) have no idea how to be a thoughtful manager of people and they think of success in completely different terms. It's not their fault, they've been rewarded for a completely different skill set. Though my supervisor’s reaction was never something I could have anticipated, it gave me much more compassion about the vulnerability of others and how they may perceive their positions, authority, livelihood as quite fragile and stressful elements. Try to report into a professional who cares about your development and will ensure that you have the resources you need in order to be successful. I hope someone needed to hear this today and that it helps in your own honeyed experience. 

Leave that place, person and job if it doesn't inspire you! #day48of100. #100dayreflectwithm don't feel inspired in your workplace? don't feel inspired in the place you live? believe me, you are killing yourself if you choose to stay even one more day there take action for god's sake Take action for your own self love take action for your own growth take action for God, don't let yourself die, dormant Change that place change that company change that person choose you choose your higher self changes are good !! yes, they are tough but worthy! change so that you can choose your new version change so that you can become your higher version change so that you can be proud of your younger self down the time change! change your friend circle change your idols change your place change your bookshelf let yourself blossom! let yourself being heard! #spirituality #growth #growthmindset

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸! I am marking this amazing career milestone with a series of reflections titled “𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳” 🤍😉. I hope by sharing my reflections, they might 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵. Edition 1 of this series was sparked by recent conversations with people whose well being have been affected because of their boss 🙁. We ruminate a lot about them but what I have learnt is that the most impactful way to improve our situation is to focus on ourselves. So here’s how you can 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 if you are feeling like you have a ‘bad’ boss. ✳ #𝟭 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸. Have a direct conversation. Choose a calm moment and express your concerns in a professional manner. Focus on specific behaviours and their impact. Suggest ways to improve communication. ✳ #𝟮 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁. It could be that your values are not aligned and expectations are different. You’re not prepared to go as far as they would like. Someone said to me “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶." ✳ #𝟯 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. This is a hard one, I know. Not easy to hear too. But while it’s easy to blame others, in the process of doing so, you are victimizing yourself and giving them a hold over you. This is the direct opposite of what you need to do to empower yourself. Don’t blame yourself either, especially if you have taken steps to provide constructive feedback consistently. ✳#𝟰 𝗗𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂. The key thing here is what is right for you. Getting advice from others is valuable but at the end of the day you know if the toxic meter has gone over your limits - defined by your values. ✳#𝟱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹. Protecting yourself isn’t going on a rampage. Instead focus your energy on what you can control and take the steps forward to better your situation. I'll share more on steps you can take here! 𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘥...! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ✳📩 I help people empower themselves to achieve peak performance in their work and personal lives. If you would like to find out more about what coaching can do for you, come chat with me! #20years #careermilestone #growth #selfempowerment #selfcompassion #peakperformance #coaching