Recently a manager at my company started uncovering some critical mistakes in projects I had supervised a very long time ago. I have since advanced in level and taken on more teams/projects in higher areas of responsibility.
The mistakes were from a period in which I had barely started my very first supervisory role and thought I could fully trust everyone working under me. However, I am still not 100% sure why and how those mistakes happened as I feel I had done everything to the best of my ability back then...
Either way, while I feel my overall and current contributions outweigh the impact of those mistakes, they are still relevant to the overall business and may add a black mark to my otherwise good record.
Firstly, what is the best way to apologize for something that went wrong so many business cycles ago, especially considering that it was at a time when I was still inexperienced - and I partly don't even know what went wrong? Secondly, how to tackle those failures if I know what to do about them, but currently have way too much on my plate already? i.e. solving them is critical but not urgent; I am already overbooked in my current day-to-day work and need to focus on performing on that as well.