Page 226 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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Trust

relationship, I recommend that either you or the other person
moves on.

1. Admit that you were wrong and sincerely apolo-
gize. Don’t try to explain why you did what you did or make
excuses. Typically, the other person doesn’t care about the
explanation. If, however, there has been a genuine miscom-
munication or misunderstanding, time should be taken to
clear up the confusion. Even if what happened wasn’t your
fault, apologize. My grandmother used to say, “It may not be
your fault, but it is still your responsibility.” For example, it
may not have been your call to reduce your employees’ hours,
but that doesn’t mean that it won’t impact their trust of you.
2. Ask for another chance. Just as you might in a personal
relationship, after you have apologized ask the employee to
give you another chance to prove yourself trustworthy. Be
thankful if he or she does and understanding if he or she
doesn’t.
3. Avoid finger-pointing. As tempting as it may be, don’t
sell out others in your organization to try to save the relation-
ship. If you start pointing fingers, the employee will just end
up distrusting you and everyone else you’ve implicated.
4. Make both a personal and a public apology. It is
likely that if you broke a promise to someone, others know
about it and the situation has caused embarrassment and
hard feelings that reach beyond your relationship with the
one employee. Team meetings tend to be the most appropri-
ate venue in which to offer a public apology. You also want to
make sure that you invite people to speak with you directly if
they have additional concerns.
5. Engage; don’t avoid. Rarely does avoiding an issue
resolve it. More typically, as time passes the individual
becomes more resentful and resolute, and the conversation