Win the Blame Game By Not Playing It

That sinking feeling in your stomach. 

• The one that comes when you send a sensitive email to Perry Lloyd instead of Lloyd Perry
• The one that comes when the new marketing collateral has a horrible spelling mistake
• The one that comes when the new product you championed hits the market and tanks
• The one that comes when the website is relaunched and is full of errors
• The one that comes with making a mistake

How does your company deal with mistakes?

Blame Game? Typically two reasons for this

1. Someone is angry and wants to explode
2. Someone wants to get out of the firing line courtesy of CYA by making it known that others are responsible.

This isn't to say that it's never warranted. If someone makes a horribly bad decision based on a huge error of judgement than they should suffer the consequences of it. Heads should roll.

But flipping out because someone forgot to attach the attachment in the email? Or even worse, Client B receiving the confidential report for Client A? Unfortunate yes, but hold your fire. You have to choose your battles more wisely.

The blame game can be one of the most anti-productive exercises there is. It creates a culture of fear, a result of which is that no one will want to do anything because the downside is too great. Someone spending two hours writing an email that should take 8 minutes because they're too scared to click send is not ideal.

Atrophy like this will paralyze the organization and it will be left behind by those who are prepared to risk failure in the pursuit of success.

One of the biggest misnomers is that incredibly successful companies and entrepreneurs never make any mistakes. Successful companies and people don't not make mistakes - the way they deal with them is better.

Mistakes can highlight the flaws that are hiding beneath the surface. They reveal the breakdown in communication or other operational failings that exist. This provides a opportunity to improve that should be embraced. If you can identify what is falling through the cracks and why it is happening you can fix it.

Some short-term pain can result in significant gain.

Throwing someone under the bus will mean you’ll probably lose their support forever. Everyone will move on and forget about the incident, but they won’t, and the relationship will never be the same.

Someone may be 100% in the wrong and the boss has every right to be angry, but this doesn't justify saying horrible things. It doesn't justify being a jerk or a mean cruel bully, espcially not to someone who isn't in a position to defend themselves.

If a mistake has been made and the person who made it already feels terrible about it, reaching out to them and putting a (metaphorical) shoulder around them can be so unbelievably powerful and generate so much goodwill. They will want to make things right as opposed to wanting to exit stage right.

The blame game tends to be a trickle-down affair. Does the boss ever get blamed if he/she make a mistake or does someone else get sacrificed in their place? This shows a lack of true leadership.

A true leader helps someone rise up when they're down as opposed to kicking them deeper into a mire.

If one is as consistent in dishing out praise and recognizing success then maybe there’s a case for the blame game, but typically those who are into dishing out blame are as stingy with their compliments.

How are mistakes dealt with at your company? Is the blame game played?

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