There are many moments when you can upset people in the workplace. When someone is hurt or upset they have an emotional reaction. They might pull away from you or they might attack you in some way, even when you didn’t intend to hurt them.
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Learning to say sorry in a genuine way can be helpful for restoring relationships that have been threatened by real or perceived hurts.
Here are three situations where you can apologise that will build a positive relationship with the offended person and one way that gets the “fail buzzer”.
 1.       Saying sorry is a powerful way to acknowledge someone’s emotions: “I’m sorry this has happened, you must be feeling quite put out.”
2.       If the person is complaining about something you did wrong, the quickest way to resolve it is to own up and say sorry: “Yes I did do that and I am sorry. I didn’t realise you would be so badly affected. It was my mistake.”
3.       If you did something you were meant to do and the person is still upset you can say something life: “I am sorry the decision has affected you this way. It certainly does make it hard for you.”
4.       When you say sorry there is no need to offer excuses or to add a BUT phrase: “I’m sorry it has affected you BUT those are the rules set down by the people upstairs and it is beyond me.” FAIL BUZZER
 

Go one further and learn the five steps to a power apology.

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