Handling anger and frustration
Sometimes, a client or colleague will get angry or frustrated with you when you make a mistake. This can happen after you've informed them about what happened. It can also happen when they notice the mistake before you can inform them or even before you realize the mistake happened. Here's an example:
When faced with someone angry or frustrated about your mistake, focus on keeping your voice calm, validating their feelings, and showing you listen. By doing so, you make them feel heard, and this is usually enough to calm them down and de-escalate the situation. These steps are explained in the module on providing emotional support. If you haven't already, head over there to practice these techniques.To illustrate, here's how you could apply these techniques if confronted by Alex:
You first validated Alex's feeling and then showed you were listening by asking a follow-up question. As a result, Alex feels understood and calms down. After you've successfully de-escalated the situation, you can start going through the other steps we've outlined in this module.