I worked for someone once who I thought was the biggest pain in the rear end and I think when I got older and started my own business, I finally understood where he was coming from.<\/p>\n
When I work on my own and something doesn\u2019t get done, it\u2019s all on me. When I worked for law firms and especially third party administrators (TPA), there are times when you have to rely on others and when they don\u2019t get what you need done, you can\u2019t get your stuff done.\u00a0 When my boss asked me why I didn\u2019t accomplish something or if I did something wrong based on the information provided, he didn\u2019t want to hear any type of excuse. He just wanted me to acknowledge that I did wrong without making any excuse even if they were valid. I once drafted a defined benefit plan document 5-7 times because the actuary and the client couldn\u2019t handle as to what the plan was supposed to say rather than how they thought should be administered. The fact that the actuary had no clue how he administered the plan didn\u2019t change the fact that the client was disappointed.<\/p>\n
The same thing can be said about clients. They don\u2019t want to hear excuses; they just want to hear that you\u2019re sorry. When you\u2019re on the phone with a government agency and they haven\u2019t acted on something for you, you don\u2019t want to hear from the person you\u2019re complaining to that they\u2019re understaffed. If you\u2019re complaining about the work done for you, you don\u2019t want to feel that the person who was supposed to get the work done thinks your concern is silly by responding LOL to your complaint.<\/p>\n
Sorry is the hardest word sometimes because people think sorry equals guilt or admission of liability. It isn\u2019t. I find it a great method to defuse a situation. There are times when I failed to get something done because I was ill or flooded with work and I said I was sorry because I didn\u2019t meet the client\u2019s expectation, It happens, thankfully not so much. The sorry went a long way into nipping any remaining anger with my failure to get something done.<\/p>\n
I have families destroyed and business partnerships disintegrated just because someone put too much weight in what saying sorry meant. Saying sorry doesn\u2019t mean someone has something over you or that you\u2019re going to have say sorry many more times, it\u2019s just a great way to communicate with someone who is disappointed in you. It helps healing the disappointment they had.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sorry you had to read this, but it\u2019s something I thought you should read.<\/p>\n
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