It works. When something bad happens, your leaders apologize, the news usually gets better and goes away.
Don’t act too fast though, your reputation is at stake. Make sure you do it right.
There is a wide body of work on crisis communication, I had the great pleasure to study under crisis communicators from the financial district. Don’t want to get a graduate certificate in it? No problem, here’s everything you need to know – the formula.
Our practical advice: When your organization fucks something up, you probably should apologize if the error meets the criteria identified in research (linked above), but you have to do it in context!
We talk about context a lot on this site.
This sucks – “We’re sorry that we set the school on fire.”
This is better- “We were training in the most realistic scenario available, we’re sorry we set the school on fire.”
This is best- “We were training in the most realistic scenario available, we’re sorry we set the school on fire. In our extensive planning and rehearsals, there was no flammable material present. After all of the preparation flammable material was accidentally brought in by the school’s grounds keeper.”
The DINFOS purest would say that I’m trying to make excuses. I’m a realist and I’m trying to protect the reputation of our organization.
Weak Sauce Apology
