Did you doze off in an important meeting? Or drank too much at the office party? Did you drunk text your boss? While these can be damaging experiences, all may not be lost. Don’t pack your desk in a box before trying these hacks to redeem your image at work.
The first move should be to regain your boss’s trust. Start proving yourself in small roles. Offer to do an impromptu presentation when a colleague stays absent without notice. File in the report early to show your sincerity to the job. File in some extra hours, even on weekends. You may have to start from scratch to rebuild your credibility, depending on how big thee goof-up was.
A good trick is to under-promise and over-deliver. As we learnt from Vishal Sikka’s resignation from Infosys, there is no point in giving high promises of reform and big changes. It is better to work towards small improvements, and let the work speak for itself.
It is also important to acknowledge your mistake and work towards correcting future behavior. This is not a personal relationship, where you can goof up as many times, and say sorry because you trust the person not to leave.
Like Godfather says, “This is not personal, this is strictly business”. So go to the mattresses with yourself if you genuinely want to clean a mess up at work.
