At some point, every company makes a mistake that requires an apology--to an individual; a group of customers, employees, or business partners; or the public at large. And more often than not, companies and their leaders fail to apologize effectively, if at all, which can severely damage their reputations and their relationships with stakeholders. Companies need clearer guidelines for determining whether a mistake merits an apology and, when it does, for crafting and delivering an effective message. In this article, the authors present their framework--the apology formula--to help companies navigate the tricky terrain. Leaders should ask themselves four questions: (1) Was there a violation? (2) Was it core to our promise or mission? (3) How will the public react? (4) Are we committed to change? As a general rule, the more central to the mission of the company the violation is and the more people it affects, the more important it is that the apology be pitch-perfect. Once a company decides that an apology is necessary, it needs to carefully consider the who, what, where, when, and how of executing it. For core violations, the "who" has to be senior leaders, the "what" has to show a tremendous commitment to change, the "where" has to be high profile, the "when" has to be fast, and the "how" must be deeply sincere and demonstrate empathy.
When a new work group forms, people often make snap judgments about who is qualified to lead. If the players don't already know one another, they tend to afford status to teammates on the basis of factors such as age, gender, race, attractiveness, and rank. These are characteristics beyond your control, but they don't necessarily predetermine the influence you can have on a group. Anyone, the authors say, can achieve higher status and more influence by getting in the right mind-set before engaging with new teammates. There are three psychological states that can increase the optimism, confidence, and proactive behavior that people associate with leaders: promotion focus (defined as a focus on goals and positive outcomes), happiness, and a feeling of power. And all it takes to help you enter one of these states is a simple five-minute exercise before starting a group task: Write about your ambitions or a time when you felt happy or powerful. The authors report that study subjects who did exactly that were more likely than others to speak up, steer decision making, and be viewed by their teammates as leaders--both in initial group meetings and in follow-up meetings two days later.
Can you have both respect and power? Having researched hundreds of corporate leaders, the authors conclude that it's hard to gain both: Fair managers are often perceived as less powerful than others (less in control of resources, less able to reward and punish) and this may hurt their odds of gaining certain key, contentious leadership roles. But companies would benefit by placing more value on fairness: Studies show that the success of change initiatives depends largely on fair implementation.