Subscribe to my Feed
« For great customer service, try AIDET | Home | How can we improve financial firms’ disclosures? »
Business apology tip #12 - Learn from your apologies
By Lauren | June 19, 2009
I’m going to conclude my Friday series of tips on effective business apologies with a tip that can make a huge difference to the future success of your business. After you’ve made your apology and resolved things with your unhappy customer or client, take some time to learn from your apology. Was the mistake that made it necessary for you to apologize a one-time fluke, or part of a larger pattern? What flaws were revealed in your company’s systems? How can you make things better so that you won’t have to make this same apology again?
It can be tempting, in the wake of a business apology, to scapegoat someone in your company. Resist that temptation! Your employees are only human, after all, and blaming them won’t help you make things better. Instead, take a look at your systems and processes. If possible, make systemic improvements to guard against inevitable human error. Your goal should be to fix the error, not the blame.
This tip doesn’t just apply in business — it’s a good approach to take in personal settings, too. But if you’re the owner of a business that’s had to make a careful apology to an unhappy customer or client, learning from that apology can be one wonderful way to improve your business going forward.
Topics: Apologies, Corporate Governance, business communications, customer relations, ethics |
June 20th, 2009 at 4:03 am
This is, I think, the most important step you have mentioned: learning from your mistakes. One of the most common errors is to make a brilliant apology, clear up whatever mess was made, and then say “Well, thank goodness that’s over with” and forget all about it - until it happens again. There is always something to be learned from every experience, and something is lost every time one does not take the time to garner that learning and put it to good use in the future.
I have enjoyed this series very much, and am sorry to hear this is the end of it; I shall miss looking forward to it at the end of the week.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for the kind words. And please, continue to check in on Fridays. I’m about to start a new series of Friday tips on positive steps businesses can take to stay out of trouble - and stay out of court! Hope you’ll enjoy it.
Lauren
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
[...] presents Business apology tip #12 - Learn from your apologies posted at The Business Ethics Blog, saying, “Once the apology is said and done, it’s a [...]