How Do You Fix It?

What’s the worst feeling in the world?

For many of us, it’s having to tell your boss, or worse yet, your customer, that you and your team have made a mistake.

This recently happened to me, and I’d like to share the story with you.

This mistake wasn’t just about the work that was done, but the team was not going to be able to make the expected deadlines. I knew we had let the customer down, and I dreaded making the phone call explaining what had happened. But, I knew that phone call was important.

The call went like this:

Me: “We have made a terrible mistake. This project isn’t going to make the deadline. We are currently fixing it and I will keep you updated on everything as it happens.”

Customer, laughing: “I guess we have a delay. I probably shouldn’t be laughing, but what else can you do?”

In short, this phone call was not nearly as terrible as I had played it out in my mind to be.

The biggest factor in this was that we were transparent with the customer. We had made the mistake, albeit a bad one, but we

owned the mistake, and we were working to fix it.

As Steve said in a previous a-Minute, mistakes happen. We’ve all heard the adage, “It’s not the mistake the defines you, it’s how you deal with it.” How you handle the mistake after it happens will drastically change the outcome.

So, deal with the mistake in a positive way: own it, rectify it, and communicate about it.

Until next time…we are Advoco, make every minute count.

About Michelle: It’s hard to find someone that doesn’t like Michelle – she’s easy to talk to, she’s a wealth of knowledge about EAM, she’s relatable, and to top it all off, she’s fun to be around! Her Infor EAM life started at a university that used the product to manage facilities. She has since built up and manages our Post Implementation Consulting team. When Michelle isn’t helping our customers, you can find her in her garden preparing vegetables for canning or touring the Upstate on her motorcycle! Have a question for Michelle? Send her an email!