Gimme a Break

September 18, 2009 by  

Tolerance for mistakes is at an all-time low.

Its on my mind because I’ve screwed up quite a few times this week – driving, messing up a screening form, carelessly forwarding an email, losing a receipt, forgetting an appointment. If you want to see people shut down, try explaining your mistake to them. There’s a good chance they won’t listen. In the worst case scenario, they’ll benefit or profit. Financial services, airlines and government agencies often excel at it and the most vulnerable people are frequently their biggest targets.

People have a great opportunity to gain my trust, respect and loyalty just by slowing down, listening and saying something to the effect “Its ok, don’t feel bad, its a little thing and I can quickly fix it for you”. Anyone who responds like that builds long-term social capital with me. And it reduces stress, a huge benefit.

So here’s an terrific way to differentiate your professional service firm: cut everyone some slack.

Reading this, you may be thinking that you’re already good at providing solutions to problems. That’s great as long as you’re living up to your promise with the small stuff too. That living up to also means acknowledging that you too have been hyper-critical and intolerant to the mistakes of others, that you give can yourself a break for it, and that you resolve to be vigilant and to do better.

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Filed under: emotional IQ, personal brand, self-awareness, social capital, social communications, stress relief
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