What do Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln all have in common? Leadership, of course. Each of these men has been recognized for having risen to the heights of greatness through tenacious, savvy leadership skills.

But these great leaders also share another common trait—each of them made some serious blunders, miscalculations, or downright errors during their tenure. In reality, no great leader ever achieves their lofty position without having stumbled a bit along the way to the top.

The essence of leadership itself involves taking risks. Making bold decisions, staking out a course of action and truly believing in it, can yield amazing results that benefit the entire company. But what happens if the big, bold idea flops? What if a miscalculation or wrongheaded decision results in steep losses or disastrous publicity?

For someone in a leadership position, what matters more than the actual mistake is how the mistake is handled. Even profound mistakes can be overcome when the matter is managed with grace and transparency. Those who prevail following a blunder do not make excuses, blame others, become defensive, or avoid taking responsibility for the mistake.

Here are 8 tips for restoring trust following a misstep:

1.     Take responsibility. Just owning the mistake is a huge first step toward rebuilding trust and respect with coworkers. Acknowledge the wasted time and effort the team endured due to the wrongheaded decision, and apologize. There is no need to belabor the point, but make sure that the apology made is heartfelt. Own the blunder, apologize, and then pivot toward action.
2.     Learn from it. As was the case for the leaders mentioned above, or any leader who has made a serious misstep, the setback will eventually be seen, through the lens of hindsight, as a gift. Identify what went wrong, communicate that with the team, and then tweak, adjust, and modify until the desired outcome is realized. When important lessons are learned and positive changes are made, a mistake can become a blessing in disguise.
3.     Demonstrate resilience. These challenging situations can become powerful opportunities to lead by example, showing the team how to overcome obstacles and survive setbacks. All eyes will be on leadership, watching to see how he or she will manage the adversity and rebound from it. Exhibit courageous leadership while righting the ship, and set a memorable example.
4.     Take decisive action. When taking a wrong turn, do not wallow in inertia. Once corrective action is decided upon, then lead boldly. Respond proactively to get ahead of it, and recommit to the mission at hand. This decisive action will inspire confidence in leadership, mobilize the team, and garner renewed forward momentum.  
5.     Sow trust. The manner in which an unfortunate incident is handled will either destroy what trust remains or will result in a freshly cemented trust-centered workplace. Just like a personal relationship, a work culture based on trust and mutual respect will bloom and grow. Once the issue has been addressed and corrected, trust can be restored through open communication and transparency.

One thing I have learned about leadership is you don’t always need to have the answer or seem to have it together all the time. But what you do need is to have the ability to source the right people for the job, ask the right questions and guide your team forward. Employees are responsive to leaders they can relate to. When someone in a leadership position humbly admits they are wrong, they are seen as human and relatable. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and it is good to see that even the boss can err.