The - now - infamous Seann Walsh, I am sure you know, was caught kissing his dancing partner Katya Jones; the two of them have been mocked and pilloried relentlessly since the story broke. This cannot have been disappointing for the BBC who have seen the ratings rise as a result of the subsequent publicity surrounding the story. Oh how hard it is to be constantly in the public eye were every part of your life is followed and subjected to scrutiny, to have every little error blasted by the plethora of public media platforms – I can’t think of much worse. I am sure Seann and Katya will come out the other end no doubt chastened by the exposure of their attraction to one another.

Mistakes are always difficult to cope with, especially in a working environment. Lawyers are supposed to be infallible and customers pay a lot of money, relying on their expertise and so when something occasionally goes wrong they are entitled to be very annoyed. I remember being mortified when, in a time of paper diaries, I somehow managed to diarise a three month deadline for four months ahead. I missed a crucial date for filing legal proceedings, to the detriment of my client. In the end our insurance company settled the clients’ loss but I found the experience very difficult to cope with, often having sleepless nights because of the havoc I had caused.

The lesson here is that we ALL make mistakes, occasionally we get away with it but sometimes the consequences are severe. As the leader of a legal practice employing a lot of conscientious and well-motivated staff, I am considering what our attitude is to be when a mistake occurs?

First and foremost, we must encourage an attitude of openness and disclosure. As compliance officer I have to deal with data protection errors. We should always give credit to our staff for making an immediate disclosure of this kind of problem as we can then take action and sort the problem out. If we do not know about the problem in the first place, then it can escalate, so creating a comfortable, open and honest environment in the workplace is very important.

Secondly, we need to support our staff in coping with the stress that making mistakes can engender. If we do not, employees can begin to think that they are not up to the job and their self-confidence can dissipate. This can be a severe inhibitor of good client service going forward. Anyone who is anxious or worried about coming into work will hardly be able to work to their full potential, so our staff need to know that making mistakes goes with the territory, although good teamwork and open doors will mean that collaborate working can help avoid such errors in the first place.

We are one of the few law firms that has established our own Training Academy, offering our staff free courses on subjects concerning personal development and other valuable areas of growth. Created with our company ethos in mind, ‘Make a Positive Difference’, we are encouraging our staff to attend courses on subjects dealing with stress and anxiety, imposter syndrome and how to deal with mistakes, to name a few. We need to show that we are alongside our staff, collaborating to help them cope with complex and difficult issues, this includes coping when things go wrong. As a result, the number of errors will decline and we will have a happier, healthier and more committed workforce. The winner will ultimately be our clients from the continued excellence of the service we provide.