As a business owner you are the leader of your team.
You are ultimately responsible for what they do, or in some instances fail to do.
Your team is more than likely comprised of real people, humans and not machines.
Mistakes will happen from time to time; no one is perfect.
Mistakes are embarrassing, humbling, yet they are opportunities that present themselves for learning, and growing to occur.
If you take the time to analyze what happened or did not happen to cause one of those opportunities to present themselves; you can then design a strategy to ensure it does not happen again.
No matter what you as the leader, and business owner, must take full responsibility for what took place.
You do not throw your employees under the bus to make yourself look better or seem as though you are without blame.
To do so will erode morale and make you look very unprofessional and immature.
My tips below will help you design your recovery strategy.
1.
Own it - accept the responsibility for what happened.
If you have someone who is irate and gives you a tongue lashing, avoid pointing fingers and placing blame.
It will not appease the person.
It will only give him or her more fuel for the fire.
He or she will then start questioning your abilities as a leader.
Just own it.
Be the leader.
2.
Examine - review what happened, and why.
Talk to your employee or employees and listen to their side.
What do they think happened, and why.
Was there a breakdown in communication? Was the employee not provided the time necessary to do the task without error? Was the employee doing what he or she was instructed even though he or she knew better, but the employee felt he or she had to do the task regardless of what may have or may have not been pointed out? A breakdown in communication is often at fault.
Listen to your employees.
Invite, and encourage them to express their concerns without fear of reprisal and truly listen.
3.
Design - design a new strategy or system to ensure the mistake or error does not happen again.
Provide time to test the strategy and fine tune it.
Solicit input from the people doing the task.
4.
Test - test the new business strategy or system.
Ensure it works correctly in house before launching it.
Again, you need to provide your staff time to do this.
You may also want to sit down and perform the task so you have a better understanding of the time needed to complete the task and the level of difficulty and frustration involved.
Do not rush your employees.
Haste makes waste.
5.
Notify - notify in writing those affected by the error that you are aware of what happened and have taken corrective action to ensure it does not happen again.
Thank the person for understanding that your business is going through a period of growth.
Ensure the person understands that this is not your normal way of doing business and you are sorry for the inconvenience the mishap may have caused.
Depending on your business you may offer a small token, coupon, or discount as gesture of goodwill.
You should not react to the error or mishap when angry or embarrassed.
When you write or speak with emotion you will not appear professional because you will probably end up sending a document with errors or saying something you will regret at a later time.
Take time to calm down.
Examine why you are feeling the way you feel.
Then implement the five steps above to recover.
Never throw your employee under the bus.