Business

Daily Buzz: How to Correct Your Boss After a Mistake

Everybody slips up occasionally, including your boss. Here’s how to correct your manager gracefully. Also: how tech training builds teams.

Your boss is human, which means, like the rest of us, he or she is prone to mistakes. The only difference is that it can be awkward to tell your superiors that they are in the wrong.

“The last thing you want to do is embarrass them or come off as either being insubordinate or a know-it-all, which means the best approach for addressing a manager’s mistake is to take a light touch,” says Scott Steinberg on Quartz at Work.

So, first things first: Make sure you’ve got your facts right. Managers often have more comprehensive information at their disposal, which could make your conclusion erroneous based purely on lack of resources. Then, think about your motive. Is your urge to correct your boss because it matters or because you just want to be right?

If there’s no way around it—a crucial mistake has been made, and it needs fixing—make sure to time your comments appropriately.

“Avoid approaching superiors out of the blue, while they’re busy or preoccupied with other matters, or in the middle of group gatherings to maximize the chances of them having a better reaction to receipt of the information,” Steinberg says.

The Benefits of Tech Training

New technology is an investment—one that will be wasted if your team doesn’t understand how to use it. So, consider implementing a tech training program. Beyond familiarizing everyone with a new tool and minimizing the risk of mistakes, the shared experience can strengthen teammates.

“When you attend a training, you expect to gain new skills from your instructor, but it’s also a great way for colleagues to learn from one another,” says Rich Vallaster on the Personify blog. “Training events allow for the sharing of best practices, challenges, and pitfalls. These interactions can also help the events team work more closely together and identify ways to optimize how they are currently managing their workflows and processes.”

Other Links of Note

Should your meeting use in-house or third-party AV? Meetings Today weighs the pros and cons.

Just as constructive criticism is a great learning tool, complimentary feedback encourages positive behavior, says Entrepreneur.

Creating content is one thing; getting it in front of people is another. Content Marketing Institute shares how to boost content distribution.

(fizkes/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Jeff Hsin

By Jeff Hsin

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