Recovering from a Mistake
By Michael Wilkinson, CMF
Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.
As consultants, we all inevitably make mistakes that can threaten the relationships we have with our clients. Mistakes like the following might fall into this category:
- You arrive late for the interview with your Sponsor’s boss.
- You make an arithmetic error in your calculation of the hours to complete a task, resulting in a $10,000 under-estimate on a $50,000 project that is billed by the hour.
- The project sponsor is (justifiably) unhappy with the performance of one of your consultants and wants a credit for all of his hours billed.
I have had the misfortune of making each of these mistakes. For the last one, I was the consultant!
A mistake can hurt your confidence and your credibility with your client. But how you recover can make the difference. While the specific actions you take will vary by circumstance, there are some key principles that should guide your actions. We call these guidelines “GEO.”
Step 1 – Grovel
Groveling is more than apologizing or saying that you are sorry. Compare the two responses that follow.
|
Apologizing |
Groveling |
|
I apologize for being late for the interview with your boss. It was a mistake I shouldn’t have made. I apologize. |
I made a big mistake today. I arrived 10 minutes late for the interview with your boss. Not only did it make me look bad and unprofessional, but worse, it made you look bad as well. I am really sorry I let you down. |
Do you see the difference? When you grovel, you take responsibility for the mistake AND you let your clients know that you recognize the impact of your actions on them. This additional step starts the process of rebuilding trust.
Step 2 – Explain
After groveling, you can then explain why the mistake happened and what you will do to ensure that the mistake never happens again. Keep in mind, if you try to explain before groveling, it will likely sound as if you are making an excuse rather than explaining.
Step 3 – Offer Recompense
By offering to make up for your mistake, you are going further down the road of rebuilding trust. You are showing your client that you are willing to extend yourself to make up for the harm you have caused.
You can learn more consulting tips in our class, The Effective Consultant. Click here for more information.
Michael Wilkinson is the Managing Director of Leadership Strategies – The Facilitation Company, and a much sought after trainer, facilitator and speaker. Prior to Leadership Strategies, he spent eight years with Ernst & Young’s Management Consulting Group. You will be able to get more tips from Michael in his soon to be released book, The Secrets of Facilitation, available November, 2004.
