Categories
Keeping Your Word
There are few management failures worse than not keeping your word. And here's “the thing” that will haunt you—once you fail to keep your word on a promise, you will begin to lose the confidence of your co-workers, your teammates, your team leaders, and likely every other (current and future) person in your organization.
Now, we all make mistakes and “drop the ball,” by failing to meet a deadline or commitment. But, if you realize, or more likely you are made aware of your failure, there is one way to begin to regain respect from your team after you fail to follow through on a promise made. APOLOGIZE, without delay and with no excuses.
Think about it like this: after your team knows you have recognized your original failure, you begin digging yourself into a hole. The longer you delay your apology, the deeper that hole gets. Delaying your apology too long, or even worse, having too much pride or ego (I would actually call this fear) to apologize at all, is like digging yourself into a hole out of which you can never escape. It will result in your future words being questioned by your team and you will lose the ability to build and maintain trust among your team members and leaders.
More importantly, making excuses for your failure when you apologize will cloud your apology and paint it as insincere. There is an old quote that rings true, “Never ruin a good apology with an excuse.”
When you keep your word, you will keep your company thriving.