Apologies are essential to maintaining healthy relationships at work. After you’ve made a mistake, offering an apology shows that you value the relationship and the other person’s point of view — but you must really mean it. Here are four common kinds of ineffective apologies. 1 The empty apology: "I’m sorry. I said I’m sorry." The empty apology is all form and no substance. You know you need to apologise, but are so annoyed or frustrated that you can’t muster even a modicum of real feeling. So you go through the motions, saying the words without meaning them. 2 The excessive apology: "I’m so sorry! I feel so bad. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do? I feel so bad about this." In theory, apologising is meant to rectify a wrong and rebuild a damaged relationship. But excessive apologies have the perverse effect of drawing attention to your own feelings, rather than to what you’ve done to the other person. 3 The incomplete apology: "I’m sorry that this happened." An effective apo...
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