Who you gonna’ call when things go wrong?

So far this year I have made 2 errors of  judgement which have both been costly as I have terminated my association with the people involved. Both were concerned with the poor and non delivery of services, not fulfilling mutually agreed expectations and a total lack of integrity.

As someone who places integrity and trust high on the agenda of any relationship, it was inevitable that if this was only present on my side then the relationship and any possible business transactions would be doomed.

Making those decisions and articulating them were easy. The hardest part was the coming to terms with the emotional side. I was plagued with questions such as:

• Was it my fault? I am expecting too much?
• Why did I not see this coming?
• What’s wrong with my judgment and intuition?
• How can other people and people who ‘do business’ behave in this way?
• Why am I so stupid?

Emotions if not dealt with can fester and lead to psychological problems later on. It was important for me to acknowledge and manage my emotions by answering these questions. I had to go through the process of checking out with myself that I had done the right thing and had acted in a way that was congruent to my own values and beliefs.

It was important to for me to share my feelings with others. I suppose as a way of testing out that I had done the right thing and to use that phrase ‘get it off my chest’. As with any thing that ‘goes wrong’ reflecting and learning from the situation is a valuable one.

What do you do and who/what do you call upon when things go wrong?