You’ve made a mistake at work. Now what do you do? Here’s how you fess up and make the situation right.

• Don’t hide your mistake. You might assume a mistake is the surest way to lose your boss’s trust. But if you’re an employee who immediately lets supervisors know about mistakes, then they don’t feel the need to constantly monitor you. As soon as you find you have made a mistake, reach out to your boss to talk about it. Waiting to talk increases the risk of multiplying the mistake’s consequences.
• Be direct. It’s easy to slip into a long story about what happened, complete with all the reasons you acted the way you did. Instead, start with a few simple sentences: “I did X. As a result, Y happened.” Fixing the problem comes first—you can provide more context for the error later.
• Suggest a fix. Tell your boss anything you have done to correct the situation. Offer any additional suggestions and say you will take any action.
• Learn. Errors are learning experiences. Working with managers to fix the situation will show them that you are not wasting an opportunity to learn something important. If you were negligent—in other words, you knew better and still did something wrong—you will probably be punished. But if you learned from your mistake, many supervisors would take the approach that the mistake’s consequences were punishment enough. After a little time has passed, talk to your boss about how you will handle similar situations in the future.

For more advice, read “How to Apologize for Messing Up at Work.”