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Home » Lose Weight Safely » What To Do When You Get Blamed For Your Coworker’s Screw-Up – Fast Company

By Courtney C.W. Guerra 05.02.17 | 11:00 am

Getting blamed for a colleagues screw-up doesnt just feel crappy, it also puts you in a difficult spot. If you say nothing, youre taking the fall for someone elses mistake, which might reflect on how well (or not) your boss thinks you can do your job. But if you speak up, you risk seeming petty or even dishonest. So you have to proceed with extreme caution.

Heres what to do the next time you find yourself in that situation:

First things first, its almost never a good idea to just silently accept blame for something that isnt actually your fault. There are exceptions to every rule, but here are the only two circumstances where its a reasonable strategy:

1. Its such a minor issue that no one actually cares.This only applies if the supervisors or other stakeholders involved are pretty blas about it, and if its an isolated incident (not the latest mistake by someone whose work is generally shoddy). If it feels like youll just confuse things further by trying to explainthat itll involve a level of detail that the situation doesnt warrantthen you can hold off.

2. You want to do a favor for the mistake-makerand its a relatively small error.If its a colleague whos recently done you a solid, or someone with more to lose (an up-and-coming junior person who doesnt have a great relationship with their boss, for instance), then you can keep quiet. However, be careful about this one, because you dont want to be covering up someones chronic poor performance.

Notice that theres no No. 3) To be nice or No. 4) To avoid having a tough conversation. Being forthcoming about process problems doesnt make you a tattletale or a jerkit makes you a forthright professional who recognizes when an organization isnt functioning properly. Managers need to know if someones not pulling their weightthey cant do their jobs if theyre misinformed about who needs discipline or extra coaching.

Related: 5 Strategies To Stop Coworkers From Interrupting You All The Time

So if you decide keep your mouth shut when accused of someone elses error, make absolutely sure youre doing it for one of these two reasons, and not out of a misplaced sense of responsibility for other peoples mistakes.

Lets assume that none of your coworkers are outright liars. Realistically that might not always be the case, but I want to believe that most people are fundamentally honestand more importantly, universal benefit of the doubt is the best approach strategically. If someones a crook, thatll become apparent eventually, and you can watch it happen from your position on the high road.

The next step is following up with the right people. Who those people are will depend on your role, your relationships with your coworkers, and the nature of the mistake.

If youve been implicated in writing, then you want to make sure the truth gets documented as well. In some caseswith coworkers you know have integrityyou might even forward the original message to them with a note like, Billy seems to think I messed up the sales projections, but didnt your team work on that? A good colleague will probably jump into the conversation to clear your name, but not everyone will take the hint. (Keep this in mind whenever youre the one in the wrongreliably taking responsibility for your own mistakes will prove that youre trustworthy.)

Related: The Scientifically Proven Way To Deal With Difficult Coworkers

With less dependable actors in the mix, youll have to do the dirty work yourselfbut as with any of these delicate situations, you want to be as dispassionate as possible. You might suspect there was some creative license involved with someone elses explanation, but dont imply that anyone was being intentionally misleading. Just stick to the facts: Hi all, I just wanted to clear up the workflow on this project since there seems to be some confusion. The sales projections actually came from Tinas team, so hopefully she can explain the inaccuracies. And then you copy Tina on the reply.

Basically, the maneuver here is to pretend like your reputation isnt at stake, in spite of how you really feel. If someone told you, New York is on the West Coast of the United States, you wouldnt get all how dare youyoud just correct them based on the factual reality of the world we all live in. Thats the tone youre going for here as well: A kind of bemused vibe of, Im not sure why you got this wrong, but no worrieslets clear it up once and for all.

For complex or super-serious situations, it might be wise to enlist your manager as your ally (or another senior colleague who knows the whole story, if the accusation originates with your own boss). If the screw-up involves a lot of peopleor one particular person whos known to be especially pricklythen a supervisor can help get to the bottom of things. An informal (face-to-face or phone) conversation is probably best, although e-mail will work if necessary. As always, be calm and factualand as succinct as possibleas you lay out the details and then solicit advice on how to handle it. Even if your boss tells you to deal with it yourself, that preliminary discussion will prove invaluable if things escalate.

Documentation can save your hide in these situations, but if the mistake originates in the course of verbal conversation, the only official evidence will be highly fallible human memory. Someone still has to back down, thoughand sometimes, for whatever reason, that person is going to have to be you. But that doesnt mean you have to admit outright defeat. In the same neutral mistakes were made tone as in all these other examples, you can issue a verdict of, Well, I remember it differently, but whats done is done, and I suppose this is a lesson to take better notes. (And then, needless to say, you do start keeping a more robust record so that you dont find yourself in this position again.)

Sometimes when a big project goes awry, theres no clear target for blame, and so it just kind of splashes all over everyone involved. If that happensor you otherwise get dinged for something you really couldnt controltry not to let it get to you. A crusade to indict the real culprit isnt a good look. If your work is otherwise good, and youve proven yourself to be an upright citizen in the office, your reputation can safely survive a few mistakeseven the ones that arent actually yours.

This article is adapted fromIs This Working?: The Businessladys Guide to Getting What You Want from Your Careerby Courtney C.W. Guerra (The Businesslady)and reprinted with permission from Adams Media, a division of Simon & Schuster.

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What To Do When You Get Blamed For Your Coworker's Screw-Up - Fast Company

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Home » Lose Weight Safely » What To Do When You Get Blamed For Your Coworker’s Screw-Up – Fast Company