What Leaders Communicate When Accepting Blame and Re-Directing Praise

Recently, an article was written about a former high-profile leader and in that piece the author communicated compliments about that person that are not commonly expressed about many people, especially those in authority and power.

“He was humble, honest and thoughtful,” the author wrote. “He accepted blame and deflected praise.”

This Communication Intelligence Special Report brings together sources to discuss individuals, especially leaders, who can consistently conduct themselves in a similar manner.

The report will examine three points related to the topic.

The first point of conversation is how followers experience and judge those people who own authority and power and reveal the character and courage to accept blame and deflect — or redirect praise.

Gayle Lantz, founder at WorkMatters, Inc.. a leadership consulting firm
and podcast host of *CEO on the Go*

Gayle Lantz
Founder at WorkMatters, Inc.. a leadership consulting firm
Author: Take the Bull by the Horns and Podcast host: CEO on the Go

Accepting blame shows trustworthiness, a willingness to be accountable, and that you’re human.

Redirecting praise to others is a great way to show appreciation which can fuel positive morale. It sends a “we’re all in this together” message.

Dan Kroytor
Founder and Director of TailoredPay

As a leader, acknowledging your mistakes is crucial for creating a healthy company culture. Doing so allows you to demonstrate to the team that it's an opportunity to learn and grow. And choosing not to lay blame elsewhere — or avoid the issue altogether—also shows that you value integrity, setting an example for employees to follow.

It's leading with a sense of True North, creating an ethical culture within an organization. And it develops a healthy relationship between employer and employees, enabling all team members to flourish and be more productive in their roles because the fear of failure isn't holding them back.

Shaunak Amin, co-founder and CEO of Swag Magic

Shaunak Amin
Co-Founder and CEO of Swag Magic

If you're not using your own mistakes as examples of how to learn and grow, you keep your team from using their own missteps as opportunities to learn and develop into a more valuable corporate asset.

It can also have a trickle-down effect wherein team members start scapegoating each other when something goes wrong.

Devon Climer, Founder of My Communicoach
Corporate Speech Trainer and Leadership Development Consultant

Accepting blame and deflecting praise to the efforts of the leader's people communicates a sense of collective success and united mission.

The ability to develop a self-awareness that recognizes when mistakes have been made is a skill that advances one's leadership.

Angeline Gillings
Business and Leadership Coach and CEO at AMP-G

A leader who covers for their team when things go wrong and authentically showers the praise on the relevant team builds respect and commitment while creating an engaging and positive work environment.

When a leader accepts blame for a mistake or a failure there is a strong signal of taking accountability. The leader is committed to having everyone learn from mistakes and improve their performance.

Teresa Valerio Parrot
Principal of TVP Communications, a communications & leadership agency
Solely focused on higher education

Accountability is an essential part of the role for any leader. A good apology comes from a place of responsibility and openness and allows people to heal and move on. It means a leader listened, reflected, expressed some true humility and accountability and then took action.

Erin A. Hennessy
Executive Vice President of TVP Communications

Apologies can be challenging for even the most confident and seasoned leaders; they require humility, accountability and sincerity during times of heightened emotions and tension.

Instead of accepting responsibility and showing remorse, we so often see bad apologies filled with defensive or blaming language, excuses and deflections.

As any professional communicator can attest, bad apologies only make things worse.

Lisa DeScenza
Vice President of Integrated Communications for LaVoieHealthScience

The traits of accepting blame and deflecting praise are strong qualities of a true leader as they put aside their own ambitions for the greater good of their company and their team.

They have a more high-level view and are more focused on the success of the company rather than prioritizing their individual career.

Maura Charles
Founder and Product Consultant at Keep It Human

Accepting blame and deflecting praise shows followers that you’ve truly adopted a mindset of progress over perfection. As a leader, it shows that you don’t feel like you have to look like the smartest person in the room.

The second point of conversation: The current popular narrative is that we criticize ourselves too much and that’s an unhealthy and counterproductive approach.

Yet could more leadership self criticism be a strength?

Maura Charles

This is a tough one for people to learn, but once they do, it becomes second nature and signals to others that this is a genuine person you can trust, because they don’t cover up their own flaws just to look good.

More importantly, it demonstrates a commitment to learning and growing—otherwise known as continuous improvement and a growth mindset.

The leader benefits because they are helping shift the culture of their organization or team, their people are more likely to trust them and it encourages experimentation. This is critical to a modern organization.

If we don’t experiment, we don’t innovate. We want company cultures that value trying and learning, because that’s where growth happens.

Angeline Gillings

Yes, it is true that self-reflection and self-criticism when used constructively can support self-improvement.

Working towards a deep self-awareness helps leaders to better understand their impact on the business, their motivators and their beliefs as they lead others to success and professional fulfillment.

However, excessive and continuous focus on the negative areas can lead to feelings of low self-worth, anxiety and depression. Further, when it becomes a counterproductive exercise, it causes a sense of overwhelm leading to paralysis and making it difficult to take action and calculated risks for positive changes.

The key is finding the balance between self-criticism and self-compassion to be able to lead effectively with empathy and confidence.

Gayle Lantz

Thoughtful self-reflection is a a healthy leadership practice that many leaders “don’t have time to do" or simply aren’t willing to do.

The most successful leaders actively seek out feedback, criticism, etc., so they can strengthen skills or performance. Some leaders build in time for self-reflection as part of a leadership retreat. Others work with a coach or schedule thinking time on their calendar.

Devon Climer

I'd certainly consider regular self-reflection a strength. I prefer to use the term self-awareness or self-feedback rather than criticism, which can carry a more negative connotation.

Solid self-awareness is an integral piece to the leadership puzzle, in that it allows for more authenticity and open-mindedness to new ideas and opinions.

This then communicates to others a sense of trust and psychological safety that can positively change an organization's communication culture as a whole.

Lisa DeScenza

I do agree that being able to criticize ourselves and be accountable for our actions is a strength. We are all human and demonstrating the strength to be accountable for any mistakes and most importantly defining the path forward to resolve the situation is a key differentiator of a great leader.

I remember in college learning about the Tylenol crisis of 1982 when there were poisoning deaths due to tampering of acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide.

While Johnson & Johnson didn't make a mistake for this to happen, they quickly reacted by recalling all of its products from store shelves resulting in millions of dollars in extra costs.

This crisis demonstrated Johnson & Johnson's priority of putting customer safety before profits. Johnson & Johnson reestablished its brand and recovered its entire market share that was lost as a result of this crisis.

I think this is a key example of then CEO James Burke aggressively took control of the situation and thereby built the company's and his own credibility which is reflected in the way the company bounced back.

I believe if you prioritize and position your company for success, your own success will surely follow.

The third and final point of conversation: People fear looking or feeling weak. It's uncomfortable. It leads to doubt or anxiety that people won't trust or respect them and may actually forever look down on them.

If a leader can be strong and show they too are fallible, they too will accept blame as they hope their people will — can that be helpful to earn additional respect, trust, influence and persuasiveness?

Maura Charles

This is an outdated idea, that I believe is shifting with new generations leading in the workplace. Strength has new definitions. Command and control as a method of management is not respected anymore.

Strong leaders show humanity and emotional intelligence. An ability to relate to other humans is part and parcel of the job of a modern leader.

Gayle Lantz

The strongest leaders show vulnerability. Being vulnerable builds rapport, connection and trust with those they lead. They lead from the heart as opposed to ego, so they are less concerned about their own image.

Who they are being sends an important message beyond any perfectly crafted words. Their focus is on the greater mission or bigger goals of the organization.

By showing more of who they really are, they inspire others to be more of themselves as well.

Angeline Gillings

By showing vulnerability, leaders demonstrate that they are human, relatable and approachable, which can help build stronger relationships with their teams.

At the same time, it's important for a leader to balance their vulnerability with a sense of confidence and strength.

While it is important to be open and honest about one's limitations and mistakes, it's also essential to project courage and conviction in one's decisions and actions to drive positive change within the organization.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Leaders are people and people make mistakes. But good leaders address their mistakes directly so their community can move forward.

The kudos come in the form of an end to the news cycle and a starting point to rebuild trust with groups affected by the situation.

Apologies can feel as if they make the situation go away because they address concerns head-on and attempt to right wrongs.

A sincere apology has the advantage of being both the right thing to do
and the best possible PR strategy because it will — in the long run — strengthen the relationships leaders cultivate and work to maintain
with their constituents.

A genuine apology is just a starting point for true leaders to return to doing their jobs well.

Erin A. Hennessy

Apologies aren’t a sign of weakness in a leader; rather, bad apologies or, worse, a refusal to apologize are signs of weak leadership.

When leaders hesitate to own mistakes, to be vulnerable in genuine ways, to be open to feedback and growth, they’re often taking the exact wrong lessons from other apology-related scandals.

It’s precisely this lack of personal vulnerability that, ironically, causes leaders to be more professionally vulnerable.

Brian Lee, founder and CEO of Arena Club

Brian Lee
Founder & CEO of Arena Club

As an entrepreneur, it's vital to make sure that the fear of failure isn't keeping everyone on the team from trying new ideas. So you have to communicate that it's ok to fail. Failing is learning.

Many entrepreneurs failed several times. But they know that getting back on that horse to keep going is crucial because nothing happens by itself.

For this reason, leading with empathy is essential, as people are working together and iterating together. Because mistakes will inevitably happen during any given project. And when you've established a culture of empathy that supports honest, open communication, it makes it that much easier for folks to step up and admit a mistake.

This way, they can rectify the situation sooner rather than later in order to keep the team moving forward.

And with so many people working remotely, demonstrating your understanding that everyone makes mistakes—including yourself—empowers the rest of the team to take ownership of their own.

But it's not just taking ownership of the losses but also those tiny missteps that can snowball quickly. This helps people see why their work matters, which is crucial for encouraging better decision-making, completing tasks, and achieving goals.

It also strengthens our bond as a team as they're jelling and focused on our mission.

Shaunak Amin

In business, you cannot tell yourself you won't make mistakes because mistakes happen. And when they do, the decisions you make at those crucial moments, how you address them, and the solutions you propose to the team are all critical.

Going on a journey of discovery together as a team fosters continuous learning and improvement to prevent an issue from happening again. And should one idea not work today, we know that it can evolve into something effective tomorrow.

The goal should always be “How can we fix this?” because, in many cases, you'll come out much stronger.

Admitting my own mistakes as a leader helps my team members feel more comfortable coming to me straight away to admit their oversight and offer solutions.

I'm more inclined to be empathetic if my team member takes accountability and proactively rectifies the situation. That way, we can get back to business.

Devon Climer

As a leader, others look to you for influence and inspiration. They want to see something in a leader that they can also see in themselves.

Modeling this idea that you can be both a strong influence and highly self-aware communicates to your people that you are, in fact, a people-centered leader.

What Leaders Communicate When Accepting Blame and Re-Directing Praise

When Communication Competence is Present