Comments on: What happens when someone royally screws up?

By: Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:11:44 +0000

@DeBorah I am sure that person got more results and devotion from you because of their straight-to-the-pointed-ness.

By: DeBorah Beatty

DeBorah Beatty — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:42:33 +0000

The most effective person I ever worked for in my early days was one who would call me into his office, sit me down so we were eye to eye and tell me that “we” had a problem, and ask me what I thought could be done to fix it. No blame, no haranguing as other’s had done (I had another boss who used psychologically abusive tactics to totally wreck your self-esteem everytime anything happened no matter who was responsible).

This was far more motivating and effective in getting problems taken care of quickly. I never doubted that I was a part of a Team and was responsible for quality, too.

By: Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:44:32 +0000

Good points here. I have often found that the employee normally has very good ideas for preventing the problem again, even right from the get-go. I like to hire problem-solvers, so when someone *royally* screws up, they likely have already grown a new ulcer over how to keep it from happening again.

The balance you strike needs to be between enabling such behavior (by not clearly and absolutely addressing how royally this was a screw up) and over-correcting and micromanaging out of fear someone might make another mistake.

I would also recommend, when you take the blame, make sure the person(s) who made the mistake are closeby… don’t throw them under the bus, but let them hear you apologize for them, taking the heat and fessing up for things they did as if you did it yourself.

This will cement their realization that part of their job is to always be a representation of YOU and your BRAND, and their loyalty in you will grow exponentially!