{"id":2953,"date":"2013-04-15T23:01:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T06:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2013-04-15T23:01:14","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T06:01:14","slug":"5-sorry-sorries-to-avoid-as-a-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2013\/04\/15\/5-sorry-sorries-to-avoid-as-a-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Sorry Sorries to Avoid as a Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t you hate it when you blow it as a leader?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not talking about getting someone\u2019s name wrong. I\u2019m talking about the \u201cHow could I have been so stupid, that was the dumbest, most insensitive thing I\u2019ve ever done as a leader!?\u201d kind of blowing it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Im-sorry.gif\" class=\"btn-image--openpopup figure aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2954\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2954\" title=\"I'm sorry\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Im-sorry-300x284.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"284\" \/><\/a>When you\u2019ve been there as a leader, you know your next step usually comes down to one thing leaders often have a hard time doing.<\/p>\n<p>The apology.<\/p>\n<p>One reason leaders sometimes struggle with the apology is that many fall into one of these five apology blunders. If you need to issue an apology, avoid these sorry \u201csorries\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><strong>The \u201cI\u2019m Sorry <em>to<\/em> Everyone\u201d Apology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An apology should be limited to the person or people directly offended by the offense.<\/p>\n<p>If you wronged a member of your board, you don\u2019t have to apologize to the entire congregation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><strong>The \u201cI\u2019m Sorry <em>for<\/em> Everything\u201d Apology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A friend of mine was asked by his church to issue a public apology for a series of leadership mis-steps, most of which were well beyond his responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>Own your stuff, but don\u2019t own everyone else\u2019s stuff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><strong>The \u201cI\u2019m Sorry <em>If<\/em>\u2026\u201d Apology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some celebrities and politicians have become masters of this one.<\/p>\n<p>It usually goes like this: \u201cI\u2019m sorry if my drunken behavior caused you any offence\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We hear the word \u201csorry\u201d, so we think that was an apology. But it really wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Let your \u201csorry\u201d be \u201csorry\u201d. Take out the \u201cif\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><strong>The \u201cI\u2019m Sorry, <em>But<\/em>\u201d Apology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ever heard one like this?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry for being so rude, but I was really tired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Again, it sort of sounds like an apology, because it contains the word \u201csorry\u201d. However, as soon as you insert the word \u201cbut\u201d, it really isn\u2019t an apology anymore.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><strong>The \u201cI\u2019m Sorry\u2026<em>Eventually<\/em>\u201d Apology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The expression \u201cjustice delayed is justice denied\u201d has a cousin; \u201cAn apology delayed is an apology denied.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t make the mistake of waiting too long to issue your apology. Own up as soon as reasonably possible.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s face it. If you\u2019re in leadership for any length of time, you <em>will<\/em> blow it at some point. And you will need to issue an apology.<\/p>\n<p>But by avoiding these sorry \u201csorries\u201d you can make your road back to credibility much smoother.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What have you learned about saying \u201csorry\u201d in your leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t you hate it when you blow it as a leader? I\u2019m not talking about getting someone\u2019s name wrong. I\u2019m talking about the \u201cHow could I have been so stupid, that was the dumbest, most insensitive thing I\u2019ve ever done as a leader!?\u201d kind of blowing it. When you\u2019ve been there as a leader, you&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,738,478,7,579],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-ministry-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2957,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/2957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}