I didn’t write a daily post yesterday, despite my normal rigour in posting every day, so today my first thought was “I need to apologise”.
I then thought of when the Master Coach known simply as Tanner kept the group waiting on the first morning of a three-day Coaching Skills course right at the beginning of my coaching learning journey (2011). He walked into the room at least 15 minutes late, said hello and then simply launched into the day.
This was in the UK, the place where people say “sorry” when YOU bump into THEM when navigating crowded public spaces such as tube stations and trains, so it is the epicentre of apologies. Tanner, though, did not apologise, he simply came into the room brimming with positivity and launched into the day!
Later (much later) in the three days, a part of the course was about “managing the energy” (eg of a conversation, a group, a coaching session) and he chose that moment to explain that he had designed his late entry and the way he handled it, choosing to avoid shifting the excited energy we all had at the start of this three-day residential course, hence he bounced into the room and off he went into the day!
PS I absolutely do believe in apologising, and in apologising in a genuine and positive way. For more on this, an earlier post is: “Leadership, vulnerability and how to apologise.“