Guard against things going wrong

1. Learn from your mistakes
The worst mistake is to make the same mistake twice. Analyse what goes wrong, make notes and ensure you get it right in future.
2. Mistake minimisation
a) Think ahead. Planning is the key to minimising mistakes. Anticipate all eventualities and make plans to cover yourself.
b) Don’t be over-confident. Many managers are so certain that everything’s OK that they never prepare for the unexpected.
c) Guard against carelessness. It can destroy project and damage reputation. Check facts and figures in reports, letters or memos, and get others to check also.
d) Don’t tolerate laziness. All com-panies have lazy people. Many may be that way because they’ve been given the wrong leadership, insufficient supervision or poorly-defined role.
e) Take stand on incompetence. “Dropped catches lose matches” they say in sporting circles, and dropped catch in the workplace can also lead to disaster. Refine your staff selection processes, monitor and improve performance and encourage training to increase standards.
f) Be disciplined when delegating. poorly delegated job can have disastrous outcome, so ensure you select the right person for the task, conduct thorough briefing, train as required, hand over authority and monitor appropriately.
g) Supervise, supervise, supervise.
Remember:
* If anything can go wrong it will.
* Nothing is as easy as it first looks.
* Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.