We have all been there – sent an email you regret. How do you handle the aftermath?
This happened about a year ago…..
I call it “Sorry, dialed the wrong number! ”
It was very late on a Friday night, in the middle of heated, nose-to-nose negotiations with a critical supplier who had threatened to withdraw services essential to our core business.
I was writing a strongly worded, very frank email to a board member discussing this supplier’s flawed approach, their (outrageous, in my view) proposal, our internal assessment of the situation and my counter-proposal and our internal “give-away” points in the negotiations.
My mistake? Both the suppier and the board member have the same first name. Guess who actually actually received the board member’s email ? –the supplier! (yes, the auto-naming feature in Outlook outdid itself by grabbing the most recent firstname email in my history)
As the send button flickered, I realized my mistake (too late!). Now I had a situation: I had to immediately deal with the board member AND rectify a contentious email to the supplier.
First, I called the board member and told him what happened. He’d find out sooner or later, and it’s always better to ‘fess up early. At least I’d get some good advice in this lousy situation. Turns out he felt the email was not such a bad thing at all — it was entirely factual, not nasty, and now the supplier (inadvertently) knew our entire honest opinion of the situation. Bit of a machiavellian turn, even.
I then responded to the supplier, told him that he really received the email in error, but hoped he would take my frank words and frustration to heart so we could chat constructively on Monday and resolve the issues.
That email did help clear the air, we did resolve our situation after a few more iterations, and I still remain on good personal terms with this fellow since he left the supplier company.
Lesson learned: stick to “just the facts” in emails, and always put recipient names in the email AFTER it is completed, taking care to type carefully!
