Correcting with Care: How to Turn Mistakes Into Momentum
No matter how strong your systems or how talented your team, mistakes will happen.
Deadlines get missed. Numbers get transposed. A misstep with a resident or investor sets off a chain reaction you didn’t see coming. In real estate, the stakes can be high—and when someone drops the ball, your first instinct might be to swoop in and fix it fast.
But if you’re always the one cleaning up, the team never learns to stand up.
Leadership isn’t just about setting expectations. It’s about what you do when they aren’t met.
Correcting someone’s mistake can either shut them down—or grow them up. The difference comes down to how you do it.
What Most Leaders Get Wrong
Too often, feedback is delivered in one of two extremes:
Too soft, and the message doesn’t land.
Too sharp, and the person gets defensive or disengaged.
Neither of these creates real accountability. Growth requires a third path: clear, direct correction delivered with care and belief in the person.
The Goal: Rebuild, Don’t Diminish
The purpose of correcting someone isn’t to punish them—it’s to build them. To help them see what went wrong, own the impact, and emerge more capable on the other side.
Here’s a framework I use when coaching through mistakes:
🔄 The CARE Feedback Framework
C – Context
Start with the what and why. Be specific. Don’t generalize.
“I noticed the rent roll numbers in this report didn’t match the trailing financials.”
A – Accountability
Name the mistake, without blame—but also without dancing around it.
“This created confusion during our investor review and undermined confidence in the data.”
R – Reframe
Shift the focus to learning. Ask a question to engage their thinking.
“What happened here, and what would you do differently next time?”
E – Expectation
Reaffirm your standard and your belief in their potential.
“I know you’re capable of accuracy and attention to detail—I’ve seen it. Let’s put in a QA check before this goes out next time.”
What This Does
It names the issue without shame.
It engages their ownership.
It reinforces your expectations without breaking trust.
It motivates them to rise, rather than retreat.
And it keeps your team operating in a growth mindset, where mistakes are a moment—not a label.
When It’s Bigger Than Just a One-Off
If you’re seeing repeated issues, go deeper:
Is the person in the right role?
Do they understand how their work connects to the bigger picture?
Are they being stretched beyond their current capacity—and if so, how can you support their development?
Accountability doesn’t mean harshness. It means clarity, consistency, and care.
Final Thought
Your job as a leader isn’t to eliminate all mistakes. It’s to create a culture where people learn from them, fast.
When you correct with respect, you build a team that’s not just more skilled—but more self-aware, more resilient, and more committed to excellence. And that’s a team that can go far.
