Extending Grace
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Extending grace to others.
We are all imperfect. We all mess up, drop balls, make mistakes. You, me, everyone.
In those moments when you’re the one who drops the ball, what you really hope for is some grace from the people around you. You don’t want to be publicly called out or ridiculed. You don’t want someone to pile on, highlight your mistake to others, or make it worse than it already feels. You just want some space to own it, fix it, and move on.
So be the kind of person that gives grace for other people.
“When someone around you messes up, you get to choose how to respond.”
We’re all human.
This isn’t about letting people off the hook when something serious goes wrong. It’s about recognizing that we’re all human. People forget things. They miss deadlines. They overlook a detail or misread an email. Not because they’re careless or incompetent, but because they’re just... people.
When someone around you messes up, you get to choose how to respond. Instead of reacting with frustration or judgment, try employing some grace. Most of the time, they already know they’ve made a mistake and they likely already feel bad. Adding weight to that doesn’t really help and it’s not productive — it just makes them feel worse. And often, honestly, the only thing it really serves is your own ego.
“In a workplace where people know they won’t be shamed or thrown under the bus for mistakes, they’re more likely to take accountability and grow from missteps vs toss blame around.”
Create a culture that makes room for mistakes.
Grace isn’t just about being “nice.” It’s about building a culture where people feel safe to take risks, be honest, and learn from what doesn’t go right. In a workplace where people know they won’t be shamed or thrown under the bus for mistakes, they’re more likely to take accountability and grow from missteps vs toss blame around. That dynamic benefits everyone on the team, individually and collectively.
When grace is part of the culture, people are quicker to speak up, quicker to fix things, and more likely to help others do the same. It creates a space where people can be real, which is where the best teams thrive.
“The world’s not perfect, and neither are we. We can all use more gentleness and kindness in our lives. Extending a little grace can go a pretty long way.”
Choose your impact.
You can’t control how everyone else behaves, but you can choose how you show up. Someone cuts you off in traffic? Makes a mess of a shared doc? Misses a meeting? You decide how much that moment affects you, and you are fully in control of how you choose to respond to that.
This isn’t about being passive. It’s about being intentional. You get to decide if you want to carry frustration with you or let it go. If you want to be the person who piles on, or the one who says, “Hey, it happens.”
The world’s not perfect, and neither are we. We can all use more gentleness and kindness in our lives. Extending a little grace can go a pretty long way.
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop
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