Management Tip of the Day: The art of company apologies

BOSTON | Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:26pm EST

BOSTON (Reuters) - - People can see right through the half-hearted, half-baked mea culpa apology, so when your company needs to apologize, do it right, says Harvard Business Review.

The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (http:\\www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters.

"When your company messes up, avoid the half-hearted, half-baked apology. Instead craft a clear, strategic message that explains what went wrong and how you're rectifying the situation. Here are three tips for doing that:

1. Keep it simple. Get to the point and don't deviate. Don't include any veiled attempts to shirk responsibility or appease investors. You'll just upset customers and muddle the message.

2. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. If you're truly sorry for your company's actions, say so and leave it at that. Avoid clarifying phrases and long, self-lauding explanations.

3. Reaffirm your company's core values. Reaffirm what your company stands for and communicate how you intend to bring the company back to the values that guided it to success in the first place."

- Today's management tip was adapted from "Smart Apologies Should Be Strategic" by Rosanna M. Fiske.

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