Weak leaders will often throw their team under the bus when theyР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћve made a mistake. You may not personally have been at fault, but if your team has dropped the ball, you should take the blame on their behalf. Take one for the team-As the leader, there are times you need to take one for the team.Sometimes itР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs better to lose the battle and apologize even when youР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћre right, for the sake of winning the bigger war (e.g., maintaining peace, completing the project, etc.). There are going to be lots of battles (e.g., differences of opinion, conflict, etc.) in our relationships at home and work, and weР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћd die of exhaustion if we fought tooth and nail to prove ourselves right in every instance.

Lose the battle to win the war-You need to have a long-range perspective when it comes to relationships.Apologizing for the pain and difficulty of the current situation, even if you didnР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћt cause it, shows you place a higher value on the other person than you do on the need to be right. It takes emotional maturity to prioritize the health of the relationship over the ego-feeding need to be right. ItР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs easy to dive into the deep end of the pool of self-righteousness. If the other person is in the wrong, then we can gloat in the satisfaction of being right. Choosing relationship over being right-When difficulties arise in a relationship, itР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs a natural human instinct to want to assign blame.Here are three good reasons to apologize even if youР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћve done nothing wrong: ( Click to tweet) You are taking responsibility for improving and moving past the situation at hand. ItР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs important to remember that apologizing is not an admission of guilt itР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs an admission of responsibility. However, there is a time and place for apologizing even if youР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћre not guilty. We become indignant, defensive, or lash out at others, none of which does anything to improve the situation. The thought of apologizing when weР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћve done nothing wrong, or even worse, when weР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћre actually in the right, causes our blood to boil. No one likes to be wrongly accused and most people certainly donР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћt want to apologize for something they didnР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћt do. I remember my kids uttering that phrase a number of times when they were young, and IР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћve also heard it from adults in the workplace more times than I care to remember. Р Р†Р вЂљРЎС™IР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћm not going to apologize because I didnР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћt do anything wrong!Р Р†Р вЂљРЎСљ

Not even wrong.