In Response to United Airline’s Apology, Communispond Released the Criteria for an Effective Apology

Communispond Inc., the leader in communication, sales, and leadership training, has released the top four criteria to an effective public apology in response to United Airline’s CEO’s apology for a passenger being dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago earlier this month.

Having to deliver a public apology is often dreaded because a mistake has been made. But unfortunately, incidents are bound to happen and the father up the chain of commands, the more likely you are to have to deliver a public apology, so it’s best to be prepared and know how the criteria to an effective public apology, because typically only get one chance.

Here is an excerpt from Communispond’s blog post on the topic:

“United’s CEO, Oscar Munoz, apologized at first by saying, “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers.” This set off an uproar almost as intense as the original outrage. So he apologized again. And again. His apologies have been getting more specific and contrite each time, but he could have saved himself and his company a lot of grief by apologizing well the first time.

So let’s talk about what makes an effective public apology. There are four qualities:

1. It is prompt. The longer an apology is delayed, the less effective it will be. That makes it hard on the person responsible for composing the apology, but there is also a benefit to a prompt apology: the sooner you make it, the sooner you can put the matter behind you. Given the modern news cycle, if you wait more than 24 hours to issue an apology, you even run the risk of reawakening the news value of the incident and increasing public exposure to it.”

Read the full post here: https://communispond.com/insights/blog/2017/04/19/660/do-you-think-united-airlines-apology-was-effective-weve-outlined-the-four-qualities-of-an-effective-public-apology/

About Communispond

Since 1969, Communispond has helped more than 800,000 professionals worldwide improve their presentation, writing, sales, leadership, and interpersonal communication skills. Every Communispond program is designed to teach proven, practical skills that can be used immediately back on the job. For more information, please visit www.communispond.com and connect with Communispond on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.