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conflict resolution for organizations, teams, executives and managers

How to screw up an offer of apology

23 July 2008 by Tammy Lenski 15 Comments

untangling disagreementsImagine getting a phone call from the gardener at your out-of-state family home. Now imagine your gardener telling you that your house and your belongings are nowhere to be seen.

That’s the call a Dallas woman received recently about her family home in Jackson, Mississippi.

It turns out that a Jackson State University contractor demolished the wrong house after a “prankster” (way too mild a word) made it look like the woman’s house was the one designated to be razed, instead of a university-owned house. Said a University official, “I’m sad that we made the mistake, and I wish that we hadn’t. It was nothing intentional.”

The apology started out so promising…and ended up so utterly ruined. It’s the implied “but” just before the last sentence that ruined it.

And the homeowner agrees, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Organizational conflict management Tagged With: Jackson State University
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Conflict Zen ® is about the simple yet powerful habits of mind and word that radically shift problems and turn conflict into opportunity. Dr. Tammy Lenski, a conflict management consultant for 15 years, shares what really works for organizational, management, business and executive conflict resolution.

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