Today's Tuesday quick thought is about apologizing.
I came across a study conducted in 2008 by Dr. Jennifer Robbennolt published in the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. The topic at hand was medical errors and how doctors respond, and it honed in on one particular type of response: an apology.
One of the reasons I really like this study is that it intersects a number of topics I'm very interested in, including customer service (care) and culture. And it points to how powerful historical norms and culture are in organizations.
It turns out that patients want and expect to hear an apology from their doctors if the doctor makes a mistake. Interestingly, she also notes that physicians, in general, want to give apologies after a mistake. That sounds like alignment, but rarely do doctors offer apologies for mistakes. So why not?
My first thought was liability, but Dr. Robbennholt dismisses that pretty quickly by indicating that the link between 'litigation risk and the practice of disclosure and apology is tenuous.' Another possible barrier would be our own psychological difficulties in admitting mistakes. As a doctor is a highly trained professional with years of education and experience, this one is plausible, but I doubt it is fully explanatory. Another option is simply the inherited culture of medicine - which in conjunction with the percieved fear of litigation and the desire to not appear wrong, is getting closer to a root cause.
Regardless of the cause, she ends her research by indicating that an apology is an important component in meeting the expectations of both parties.
Many, many times I have had a negative experience with an organization, and the only thing I would really like is an apology. The apology is a recognition that your customer's experience didn't go the way they wanted it to go. It is not necessarily an admission of fault, and there may have been nothing you could have done to prevent the negative interaction. But it show empathy - that you understand your customer had a negative experience and regret it.
This is a shift in expectations that is happening across industries and very rapidly. If I have a negative experience with your company and you do not apologize, I will never come back. There are too many other options out there. And this mindset is growing
Inherited history and culture are powerful things - they impact our behavior in a variety of ways, many of the subtle. So if refusing to apologize, regardless of if you are 'right' or not, is a part of your culture, it's time to change.
And that's your Tuesday quick thought. Connect with us for more.