{"id":4866,"date":"2020-08-25T08:10:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T12:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=4866"},"modified":"2020-08-25T08:10:31","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T12:10:31","slug":"do-apologies-fix-broken-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=4866","title":{"rendered":"Do Apologies Fix Broken Trust?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”\u00a0<\/em> <\/strong>Benjamin Franklin<\/p>\n

“Say you’re sorry.” As a child, how often did you hear those words from parents and teachers? While apologies become even more “complex” in adulthood, have you stopped to consider the role they play in trust repair?\u00a0\u00a0This week, as part of our Zoom Lunch & Learn series seven members of our Trust Alliance convened to discuss the topic of apologies in a session called “I’m sorry…but.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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Prior to meeting, I provided the group with the following insights shared by one of our members:\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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It’s been almost four decades since Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol crisis, and public affairs professionals have been fixated on the \u201capologize\u201d model.\u00a0 Whenever a company is attacked, they recommend that trust can be rebuilt only by an immediate apology. Yet there have been critics of this approach, most notably renowned crisis manager Eric Dezenhall.\u00a0 In his 2007 book Damage Control, subtitled \u201cWhat Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong,\u201d Dezenhall argues that not all situations are the same, that not all apologies are the same, and that the costs and benefits of the apology must be carefully evaluated.<\/em><\/div>\n
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Through the lens of trust, the apology plays a particularly important role, which may be to restore, build or further undermine trust. The apology is no panacea that fixes broken trust; at best, it is one step in an ongoing process. \u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

Our discussion extended beyond apologies at the organizational or corporate level. We reviewed interpersonal apologies as well.<\/p>\n

The following are some of the key take aways:<\/strong><\/p>\n