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The cost of the stories you buy


Have you ever had a colleague or employee try to explain why they didn’t meet your expectations with a task? Perhaps they told you they didn’t have the resources, they didn’t have enough time, or something else got in the way.

When you believe someone else’s excuse for not completing a task, not meeting a deadline, or for letting you
down, you are in fact paying for it. This happens all too often in the corporate world, where it can cost you both time and money. Don’t fool yourself that it was for free, it did cost you.

 

Don’t fall for people’s excuses

It is incredibly easy to get wrapped up in your day-to-day business issues and dealings that you begin to believe the excuses you are fed by others when they don’t deliver by the proposed deadlines or don’t complete work tasks up to scratch.

Perhaps they needed more information from you, didn’t have the resources, something got in the way, or they simply ran out of time? Whatever their excuse is, it’s important to remember that they are unacceptable, and they are just that, excuses.

As a leader within your organisation, whenever you accept an excuse for why a job is not done, you are buying their story. Either you have to do the job yourself or rest with the fact that you didn’t make the sale or meet the deadline, therefore suffering the consequences of this. The more senior your position, the more the story can cost you.

Many leaders fall into the trap of accepting excuses and buying stories as it also means they don’t have to be
responsible for the outcome anymore. By taking responsibility and not buying the story, you are keeping others accountable for their actions and ensuring a profitable business.

Once you clearly see that staff and colleagues may be making up various excuses to avoid their deadlines, you will be able to save a considerable amount of time and money. You can either complete the tasks yourself to save on employment costs, pass the tasks to someone else, or you can hire someone more suitable for the role. In each case, buying that story cost you.

 

The importance of being accountable

Through no fault of your own, a contractor or employee may not deliver the work you require by the specified deadline due to one excuse or another. Apart from the potential of loss of income and time your business may face, it may also endure a tarnished reputation due to you being unable to submit the work to your client by the deadline.

Your business is important, as well the money it makes. If you remain accountable for the work both you and your employees are required to do, you can save a considerable amount of time and money. Reputations are considerably hard to polish once they have been tarnished by work that has been submitted late, and your client could more than likely seek services elsewhere.

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