Behavior #4: Right Wrongs, page 158.
Summary: Behavior #4 – Right Wrongs
- Make things right when you are wrong.
- Apologize quickly.
- Make restitution where possible.
- Practice “Service Recoveries.”
- Demonstrate personal humility.
- Don’t cover things up.
- Don’t let pride get in the way of doing the right thing.
Behavior #4 Right Wrongs
- Right Wrongs is more than simply apologizing; it’s also making restitution. It’s making up and making whole. It’s taking action. It’s doing what you can to correct the mistake…and then a little more.
- In business, Right Wrongs includes “service recoveries” or rectifying mistakes made with customers – hopefully so well that customers are not only satisfied, but are also given incentives to develop an even greater loyalty to the company.
Humility and Courage – or Ego and Pride?
- Right Wrongs is based on the principles of humility, integrity, and restitution.
- The opposite of Right Wrongs is to deny or justify wrongs, to rationalize wrongful behavior, or to fail to admit mistakes until you are forced to do so. It involves ego and pride. It’s being humbled by circumstances instead of by conscience.
- The counterfeit of Right Wrongs is to cover up. It’s trying to hide a mistake, as opposed to rectifying it.
- In the case of Right Wrongs, the counterfeit creates a double trust tax, one tax when you make the mistake, and another – usually far greater tax – when you try to cover it up and get caught.
- The reality is that everyone makes mistakes. The issue isn’t whether you will make them, it’s what you will do about them. It’s whether you will choose the path of humility and courage or the path of ego and pride.
The Bottom Line
- Right Wrongs powerfully affects the bottom line.
- People are more likely to sue when they are mad. People stay mad when they are owed an apology and don’t get one. Giving a heartfelt apology in many cases takes the sword out of people’s hands.
- When you’re on the other end – when someone else has wronged you – there are important things you can do to help Right Wrongs and build trust. By being forgiving, for example, you enable others to more easily apologize and make restitution to you.
- Acknowledging your own mistakes gives freedom to others to do the same, which is extremely ennobling and enabling for a culture.
Trust Tips
- If your behavior is too far to the left of the bell curve – if you’re not going far enough in righting wrongs – you may want to work on honesty, humility, courage (Integrity), caring (Intent), or alignment between behavior and desired outcomes (Results).
- If you’re too far on the right – apologizing too profusely or apologizing repeatedly for the same mistakes – you may want to work more on congruence (Integrity), motivation (Intent), or on judgment that comes from strengthening and blending all 4 Cores.
Improving Your Ability to Right Wrongs
- The next time you make a mistake, pay attention to your response.
- Are you trying to ignore it? Justify it? Cover it up?
- Or, are you quick to admit it and do what you can to make restitution?
- Give some thought to your past. Are there wrongs that haven’t been righted?
- The next time someone has wronged you, be quick to forgive.
