The power of an Apology

Please click on the title to read this note by Peter BREGMAN that we came across on the Harvard business's blog site. A very nice note on the power and the need of an apology.

We thought Peter should have gone further. Giving an apology , in our view is only step one. Something more should follow.

We hear customer service reps now start the conversation with " i'm sorry this has happened, i will try to solve it". What we tell them is "this happened last month as well....and a few months before..."

How do you accept an apology that is automated and built into a response?

How do you distinguish between a sincere apology and "systematic" one?

What stops us, over time, from getting skeptical about apologies?

An apology must lead to a correction in behavior. If this does not happen. In fact, an apology is only relevant when the apologiser understands the error of his way and the better course of action. And then decides to implement that course of action.

It used to be said that it takes courage to apologise. That's no longer true.

It takes courage to apologise and ensure the mistake is never repeated again.

Ritu and Venkat