What to Do When You Put Your Foot in Your Mouth at Work

What to Do When You Put Your Foot in Your Mouth at WorkWhat to Do When You Put Your Foot in Your Mouth at WorkWouldnt it be great if you could take back something you said as soon as you realized it offended someone? Imagine if you had something like the delete button on a computer keyboard but instead of erasing words you just typed, you could erase words you said. Unfortunately there isnt such a tool. When you put your foot in your mouth and offend someone, for example a coworker, there is nothing you can do to make your words disappear. Most of us realize the importance of maintaining good workplace relationships and dont say things with the intention of offending our coworkers. Usually we simply dont realize the effect our words will have until its too late.Sometimes we speak without taking the time to think carefully about what we are about to say because we are busy thinking about or doing other things. Often, though, we do think about what we are going to say but dont think th at it will be offensive. It happens to everyone and it has probably happened to you. Maybe you said something in jest that a coworker didnt think was funny, brought up a topic that was inappropriate for the workplace or criticized his work too harshly. Only when you see the ausprgung on his face, do you realize youve insulted him. As much as you want to take back your words, you cant. What can you do? You have a couple of options. You can ignore what happened and hope your colleague will forgive and forget. That might work, but more likely you will continue to wonder if things are truly back to normal with your relationship. The other option- and the best way to move forward- is to deal with it immediately or as soon as you know theres a problem. Here are things you can do that will, hopefully, repair the problem or at least keep it from getting worse. Say Youre Sorry Apologize the moment you realize what happened. Even if all you can manage to do is utter Im sorry that is much bett er than letting the words that offended your coworker hang in the air. The longer you wait, the worse things could get. Your coworker might think you dont care that she was offended. The most important thing is that you let her know you do, regardless of whether you agree that she should have been.Dont Be Defensive You may not understand why your coworker has taken umbrage at what you said. For example, you may have told him a joke that was well received by other people, yet your office mates face turned red when he heard it. Should the fact that other people didnt react the saatkorn way somehow negate his reaction? No, it shouldnt. What matters is only that he was offended and that is what you must apologize for. All you need to say is Im sorry for telling a joke that offended you. Let It Go After you offer your apology, move on. There is no need to dwell on what happened. Doing that will only continue to remind your coworker of your offense, and there is no reason you would want t o do that. Everyone makes mistakes so stop beating yourself up over it.Give Your Offended Coworker Time Your colleague may not be able to forgive you immediately and you must respect that. She will accept your apology whenever shes ready and theres nothing you can do about it. After taking the appropriate measures, hopefully, you are able to repair your relationship with your colleague. Then its time to move on and get back to work.