Managing Leadership^®

We all, individually or corporately, have good intentions, try hard, and mean to do a good job. However, we are all also humans (including, really, our corporations). We will sometimes fail to meet our own standards, suffer a lapse in judgment, or just plain make a mistake.

Even those among us who are especially focused on avoiding such shortcomings are ourselves exhibiting degrees of another shortcoming – an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (not the much more serious and debilitating anxiety disorder, OCD), that inevitably leads to its own brand of errors that can undermine both individual and corporate trust. So, we should all probably just stipulate that sooner or later we are all going to blow it fairly big time, and get on with the crisis management planning while we can.

Whether an individual or a corporation, whenever you’ve been caught saying one thing and doing another, you are offering evidence that what you say – at any time or on any subject, not just the specific one leading to the crisis – may not be what you really mean; you are teaching us to not trust you. You do not restore lost trust by denying that it has been cast into doubt in the first place, or by covering up the incident that gave rise to its loss.

What you do do is apply to yourself the same standards you would to an employee or a vendor that has done what you have done. Presuming that the facts of the event are established, you acknowledge them openly. You frankly admit the relevant details of the infraction, what ought to be done about it, and then you state that that is what you will do. You apologize for, but do not excuse, your behavior (again, whether individual or corporate), and you ascribe it to your all-too-human shortcomings, and not to ill intent or willful malfeasance.

In so doing, you will begin to restore confidence by identifying with and arousing the understanding sympathy and tolerance of those whose trust in you you have shaken. But you cannot escape with just a confession – to complete the process you will have to do the penance. As an individual, this may involve submitting yourself to suspension, a fine, or even reassignment or resignation – even (especially) if you are the CEO.

If you are a corporation, this involves both making your customers or other constituents whole, and also offering a reliable incentive to encourage them to maintain their relation with you, so that you will have the opportunity to demonstrate that the problem event was exceptional, and not characteristic. The incentive can certainly include discounts, but it is best if it involves additional service and/or support, which will better demonstrate the depth of your commitment to your corporate constituents.

Once you’ve taken these steps, you can have your “get back to work meeting” (see the 29NOV06 post) and get on with pulling your weight by managing; and you can put the lapse behind you (just don’t let it happen again!).