When you make a mistake, admit it and take responsibility for it. It’s what my fiancee and youth probation officer tell her kids, and apparently it’s also what is recommended for businesspeople.
It’s a funny thing that we forget relationships matter in business. In one experiment, productivity increased because various lights were turned on or off at a factory. As it turns out, the productivity increase had nothing to do with the lighting and everything to do with the employee perception that management cared!
There is nothing revolutionary about it. People work better when they think you actually care about them. It’s only in a “management” oriented culture where people are seen as pawns or resources that this fundamental principle is forgotten. The hilarious-because-it’s-true show The Office illustrates what happens when relationships are developed in inauthentic and transactional ways.
When you treat people like human beings and expect the best of them, people will be more productive, more inventive, and more loyal. We all know this. We just forget in the hustle and bustle of getting things done.