When it's time to apologize, a simple "I'm sorry" falls short of leadership. Why not show them how it's done? Explain the lesson(s) you learned, along with better / stronger / different action you will take in the future. People will respond to your transparency with more trust, and less time trying to cover their own butts. Greater effectiveness, teamwork, and morale follow, all of which strengthen your leadership, and, beyond that, create a higher-performing organization.
Self-coaching Questions:
- Do my apologies tend to be sparse, or more generous in terms of courage?
- How can I exercise leadership when it's time to own my mistake?
- What's the likely positive outcome of making amends?
David Peck
Executive Coach
and President
Leadership
Unleashed
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Based on client experiences / lessons learned, our weekly LeaderTips have been offering self-coaching themes and topics of interest to leaders since 2004. They are often published in BusinessWeek Online, sent weekly to our clients, and hundreds of other corporate leaders worldwide. I invite you to forward them to others, who are also welcome to subscribe using the link below. Note that over 100 of these tips appear in my book, Beyond Effective: Practices in Self-aware Leadership. Click here to subscribe to LeaderTips via email.