People losing their jobs; survivors being asked to take on
more duties, often with fewer resources; businesses going
bankrupt; mortgages being called. These conditions
translate in to more tension and apprehension in the
workplace.

"People are feeling anxious, so they're being short-
tempered, passive and unproductive," says Martin Yate, a
career adviser at GoSavant.com>

In this environment people tend to hunker down. They
spend a lot of time looking over their shoulders, afraid to
take chances and assume more responsibility for fear they
will make mistakes.

Negative Impact On Careers

The result is that careers are slowed down, even stalled or
derailed, because advancements can only come by taking
calculated risks and reaching out to take on more
responsibility.

"Tough as it is for cautious people like me to accept, if you
don't take calculated gambles you won't get ahead as
quickly as those who do," declares Alexandra Levit, a
columnist for The Wall Street Journal. "You will also never
get over your fear of the unknown and life will be predicta
and dull."

So, saddle up and go forward with all the vigor you can
muster with common sense to take reasonable risks in
improving your performance and profitability of the
organization that employs you.

Recognize that everyone who successfully travels a
rewarding career path makes mistakes at one time or
another. The only people who don't make mistakes are
those who sit around in isolation contemplating their nave

Minimize Fallout From Mistakes

Here are eight steps you can take to minimize the fallout
from your inevitable mistakes.

1. Don't retreat into a shell of self-denial, hoping the error
will correct itself. Chances are it won't. Assess the situatio
Get all the facts. Why did the mistake occur? How much
damage did it cause? Why did it occur? What lessons can
learned, so as to avoid a repeat performance. What's the
worst thing that can happen?

2. Admit your error. If an apology is in order, speak up rig
away with sincerity. Report the situation, unvarnished,
immediately to your boss. Sooner or later your mistake wi
surface anyway. By stepping up promptly you are in a bet
position to exercise damage control.

Centuries ago Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, advised
"Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.

It's natural to feel regret, even humiliation, and try to act
if the incident never happened. Don't go down that path.
Your boss and your associates are certain to be ticked off
you seem to not care that you made a mistake.

3. Have a plan to correct the mistake.

4. The first rule of damage control after a mistake is to
reveal all of the facts immediately. Unwanted attention on
your error is renewed when you dribble out the story bit b
bit.

5. Accept responsibility. Don't blame others. It's easy and
tempting to get defensive and look for scapegoats. That s
of behavior only exacerbates the problem.

6. Be prepared to receive from criticism from your boss an
your associates. Listen carefully. Is it valid? If so, learn fro
it. Expect that some of the negative feedback will be simp
carping, probably from those who envy your courage in
stepping up and taking responsibility. Don't even think ab
retaliating. You'll only make matters worse. Look ahead.

7. It's okay to feel the pain, even to mourn a little, but do
make a hair shirt part of your wardrobe. Get back up, dus
yourself off and go back to work full speed.

8. Once you've processed the mistake, learned from the
experience and started remedial actions. Then leave the
misstep behind.

The only truly unforgivable mistake is to repeat a mistake.

To get more common sense advice on how to protect and advance your career during tough times, sign up at http://www.CommonSenseAtWork.com for a free subscription to Ramon Greenwood's widely read e-newsletter and participate in his blog. He coaches from a successful career as Senior VP at American Express, author of career-related books, and a senior executive/consultant in Fortune 500 companies.