Forum: workplace.stackexchange.com
Tags: <india><leadership><deadlines>
Title: How should a leader behave when they miss deadlines themselves?
Question: As a leader in an organization, one has to set an example by being disciplined. But sometimes even leaders can commit a blunder, be it a consequence of workload or anything else.  My friend (we are based in India) is mentoring a group of teachers who are not motivated at all.  Now this leader missed a deadline. How should they react now? Should they give an explanation for the missed deadline or just keep quiet and try to build a better reputation next time by being in-time?

Answers:
sents: text: Admit your mistakes quickly Explain what you did wrong Explain what you will do to fix them
text: Explain how you will make sure this will not happen again
text: Don't make the same mistake again.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/46894/Old_Lamplighter
score: 125
sents: text: How should a leader behave when he misses deadlines himself?
text: Leaders need to be held accountable just like anyone else.
text: If they missed a deadline they should: Admit to missing the deadline Apologize for missing the deadline Explain the reason(s) for missing the deadline Explain the steps that they will take to prevent this from happening in the future.
text: They need to set the example of how things should be done by actions.
text: Under no circumstances should they keep quiet.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/93810/sf02
score: 36
sents: text: All the other answers are great, but nobody gave what is in my opinion the most obvious answer:
text: How do you expect your subordinates to react if they miss a deadline?
text: Whatever your answer is, do that.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/97829/jesse_b
score: 21
sents: text: Admit your mistake Admit your mistake.
text: That's the most important part.
text: Do not excuse it Do not explain it.
text: Do not justify it.
text: Do not give out reasons.
text: There are exceptions to this rule.
text: But for now, I won't go into them.
text: 99% of the time, it's just better to not give out any.
text: Do not promise that you won't do it again If you want people to trust you, do it with your actions, not your words.
text: A promise made (under the stress of having broken an earlier one) is not built on a good foundation.
text: It can be seen as a very empty gesture.
text: If you find yourself in front of a police officer, or a judge, or facing a very serious situation, yes, by all means, promise all you want, but in most other cases, it's just better that you continue feeling bad about you did, or didn't do.
text: Feeling bad will motivate you to figure out ways to mitigate such problems in the future.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/14577/Stephan Branczyk
score: 10
sents: text: How should he react now?
text: Since you said your friend a leader, the leader does not react...
text: Shall he give an explanation for the missing deadline?
text: Or just keep quiet and try to build a better reputation next time by being in-time?
text: An apology & an explanation is appreciated and will be seen as your courage for acceptance of failure.
text: An explanation will help followers with clarity of the situation and avoid a fuss.
text: Keeping quiet will harm his reputation.
text: Leaders take failure as opportunity/learning and do like the following: Analyze the cause of failure and come out with better strategy to avoid such failures in future Allow others to take chance next time if they have better plans If a group of teachers are not motivated, find other ways/technique to make them motivated Plan with reasonable more time in a deadline for such tasks in future (since now you know that previously planned duration is not enough) Shall not express disappointment and try inspiring/motivating followers for better luck next time on success
text: A very big answer can be written for "what next...
text: " but above shall be helpful.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/97076/JPI
score: 5
sents: text: How should he react now?
text: He should apologize and make sure it doesn't happen again.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/7777/Joe Strazzere
score: 2
sents: text: All of the other answers are good.
text: But I think it's worth thinking about it another way as well.
text: How do you, as a leader, think a team member should behave if they miss a deadline?
text: I think a leader should behave basically the way they WANT a team member to behave.
text: And do it in front of the whole team.
answer_details: author: workplace.stackexchange.com/users/107745/Polygorial
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Admit the mistake and apologise. Explain how they will prevent this from happening again. 
Most people would agree that the most important way to respond to such a situation is to admit the mistake, apologise and ensure that it doesn't happen again. There is no exact answer as to how much you should attempt to explain yourself, and some people would argue that there is no need. Ultimately, as a leader, you should aim to behave the way you expect your team members to behave.