She was responsible for the advertising inserts at a daily newspaper. In the chaos of three major, post-deadline revisions on a particular project, Forrest didn't notice the phone number of the client was incorrect until after the newspaper came out. Besides apologizing to the frustrated woman whose phone number was being inundated with calls, Forrest quickly acknowledged her responsibility to her boss. And then she went even further.

"I offered to correct the phone numbers on every issue of the overrun (the stack the advertiser distributes themselves). I printed out hundreds of labels with the correct phone number and called the [client] to tell them I would spend the next day personally correcting their copies," recounts Forrest. "At first they were very angry, but as the day wore on, they became more apologetic. I remained cheerful and humble and the paper did not lose the account or even their goodwill."

She passes on what she learned:

• "Willingness to accept responsibility lets the boss know you are mature and that the responsibility is not too heavy for you."
• "Always try to approach a mistake with a solution."
• "Pinpoint the cause of the problem for later prevention."
• "Placing blame doesn't help, and a bad attitude only makes things worse."

Forrest did the right thing by apologizing and immediately working to correct the problem, according to Andrew DuBrin, professor of management at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., and author of "Looking Around Corners: The Art of Problem Prevention."

"If you admit it and take personal responsibility, then people get off your case," says Dubrin. "Explain what happened without being defensive or apologetic, and people tend to soften their criticism. It disarms the opposition."

Another survivor of workplace error is Melissa Soule. An account executive at public relations firm Rossman Martin & Associates in Lansing, Mich., she admits, "I got in a whole heap of trouble a couple of months ago when a reporter broke an embargo on a time-sensitive story that I leaked to her."

Soule quickly did the right thing, following what she calls the three A's: Acknowledge, Accept responsibility and Apologize. She says, "I explained the situation to the client. I ended up writing an apology letter to the client. We did not lose the client, but it was a close call."

To err is human. To forgive is going to take a while.
Even after you've done all you can to correct the error -- printed an apology or won back the client -- don't think you've eliminated the consequences. Now starts the hard work of winning back the trust of your employer and rebuilding your reputation as a qualified professional.

"Someone trusted you, and you violated that trust," Lichtenberg says. She warns it will take longer to rebuild the trust than it took to build it in the first place.

Even if the rest of the office has moved on, you could end up replaying that goof over and over in your head. Rather than let it haunt you, put it in perspective and learn from it, DuBrin advises. "It's important to ruminate about the mistake and see 'What did I do wrong? How could I have prevented the problem?'"

Without that reflection, it's possible you'll find yourself continuing to screw up. Even a series of little goof-ups can ultimately damage your current job, your reputation and consequently, your career.

"Repeating small mistakes is worse than one big mistake," DuBrin reveals. "People have a reinforced image of you." A situation like this can be more damaging because you've repeatedly broken a trust.

Another thing to ponder is whether the situation is a sign of a larger problem -- perhaps you are in the wrong career. "You might not have the right aptitude or personality for the field," DuBrin suggests.

However, if you truly love your work, and the error was caused by other factors, you'll probably be stronger for it. In fact, some day you may even laugh about it. Well, some day.

But if you're unable to recover from a fumble at your current job, moving on may be your best option. DuBrin recommends focusing future job interviews on the positive aspects of your record. If the faux pas comes up, explain what you learned from the error.

Rosemary Forrest, the one-time newspaper label-gluer, later moved on to a job at the University of Georgia-Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. She reminds, "How we handle our mistakes in work and life says more about us and our abilities than how we handle success."

-- Posted: Sept. 7, 1999