Reply to What to do when VP schedules meeting to "debrief" on error you made?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here, the reason I made the error is because I had no support.  I am literally running a huge program myself with no experts to consult with or ask questions, so of course sooner or later I was going to make an error because I'm literally on an island over here.  What I need is for my company to provide that support, but they have struggled with hiring.  I am worried if I tell him that, it personalizes/excuses the error which as the PP mentions will give him more steam.[/quote]

You sound defensive and like you're making excuses - which is understandable, but get it out of your system on dcum before your meeting.

Think forward.  What do you need (specifically!) to make sure it doesn't happen in the future.  What process will you change (even with no additional support or staff) to minimize errors in the future.

It's OK to ask for something (tools or people) if you need it to do your job better, but it's not OK to just say "I had not support"  And if you do ask for something, it needs to be specific and constructive, not just "more people, I'm overwhelmed!"[/quote]

The thing you need could be more help prioritizing what is important, so you can make time to pay attention to detail on the things that are important.  But do some real assessment before you ask for this around whether this is a problem for the role (everyone in it is making the same kinds of mistakes) or a problem for you personally.[/quote]

OP again, so the funny part is that I was told to totally de-prioritize this specific client due to the low odds of getting a deal done with them, by people higher up than this VP, since I was simultaneously working on 60+ other deals of higher importance.  The SVP told me to put in minimal effort for this client and to not spend very much of my time on it.  Regardless of the error, the client clearly indicated they didn't want to sign with us, but I think this VP wants to pin the reason on me since it was his pursuit.

I am really not sure what could be changed to prevent this in the future.  Sending all PPTs through a secondary review (of resources that don't exist)? [/quote]

So what was the actual source of the error?  Is it a typo?  Incorrect info you guessed but didn't have time to fact check?  It is unreasonable to send everything you do through a secondary review of everything in it... you need to get better at proofing yourself in that case.  But maybe it's reasonable to get an escalation/review process if it's something you had to guess on or otherwise couldn't find the info.   [/quote]

Yes, it was the result of reading a policy and turning that into a financial calculation, which it turns out that I misinterpreted, even though at the time I felt pretty sure that I had interpreted it correctly.  If I felt uncertain about it, I definitely would have at least flagged it or tried to find someone to check it for me, but in this instance I felt pretty sure.  So much of my job involves me guessing at things (I do financial modeling) and combing through vague policies and statements and turning that into projections.  There is possibility for this type of error all the time.  Without more resources to perform secondary reviews/QA's of my work, the risk of making errors like this will probably not go away.  The best I can think to do is to own the mistake, apologize that I didn't interpret correctly, and suggest that next time we should have one of our experts review it (even though I will be saying that tongue in cheek, because our experts have repeatedly declined to support me due to their resource constraints).  Yes, I know I have been set up for failure in my job, it's not a great place to be.[/quote]

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