You’ve done it. Sent out a memo that wasn’t clear, didn’t say what you needed it to, or actually insulted one of your colleagues or clients. What do you do now?
1. Rectify the error immediately. Send out a follow-up to the memo, apologize, take full responsibility, and make amends. A quick response is better than no response. You must do something, so get your head together and do it. Right now.
2. Find a (better) proofreader. If you send out memos will-nilly, get a proofreader. If you do use a proofreader, find someone to back up that proofreader or to replace that proofreader. A proofreader is reading closely, not quickly.
3. Set up a way for clients or colleagues to respond to the bad memo. People will need to respond to you, maybe even weeks after the memo went out and then was retracted. Have a way for them to do that, either via email, phone, in person, and point them to it. Send out a special email highlighting your wish to make sure everyone is okay with the memo issue and you welcome feedback via the channel you’ve set up.
4. Deal with each person individually. Once people contact you, work it out with them individually. Do what you can to make amends to them.
5. Don’t do it again. The goal is to reduce errors and omissions down to zero, but that’s just not realistic. However, making the same error twice is really bad. Each time you send out a memo, make sure you at least double-check that you’re not repeating the entire ordeal again.
