When have you experienced failure in the workplace, and how did you react?

"When I first started working at my current organization, I was responsible for receiving, sorting, dispersing, and acknowledging donations such as clothing, non-perishable food items, and diapers. At the time, I believed it was best to accept all donations so that we could provide people with a greater quantity of items. However, I failed to consider that we should be more selective with the items we receive. One week, we would have fans available for free, and the next week, we would not. People would come looking for a fan, having heard we carried them, only to find we only had fans for that one week. So, I carefully curated a list of in-kind donations we could accept, process, and disperse. This gave our program greater consistency and allowed us to be more reliable for our clients. I try never to dwell on my failures except to learn and grow from them. This was one of those experiences!"

"Several years ago, I was in charge of implementing a fundraising event that involved local celebrities playing in a baseball game. I had a slate of celebrities lined up for the event. However, I did not have any backup players scheduled in case a celebrity had to drop out of the event at the last minute. This ended up happening, and a volunteer graciously offered to fill the spot. I learned from that experience to always have a Plan B in case something does not go as planned. In my work, I want to be honest with others, but I also want to be honest with myself so that I understand why I made a mistake or failed to meet a goal. This will allow me to perform better in the future."

Avoid being negative about yourself and others. Show that you can accept responsibility for your role in the failure of a project, event, or fundraising goal.