You dey five minutes inside one presentation wey dey go well. The room dey with you, your point dey land, and you get answer ready for the questions wey you expect. Then you talk one number for loud, and person for the second row get the correct one for him screen. Na forty, no be sixty, and now everybody don sabi. Small silence enter as the room dey wait to see wetin you go do about am.
Nothing about the next hour don decide yet. Wetin go happen next dey decided by about sixty seconds, and those sixty seconds get script wey dey work. Correct am for one sentence, for the same volume, and continue.
Rooms dey move on from wrong number faster pass wetin anybody expect. Wetin dem dey keep na how the person handle am, and that part na you go write am.
Wetin I go talk sharp sharp after I mix number for front of everybody?
One sentence, for this shape: the correction, then the correct fact, then straight back to wetin you dey talk. "I get that one wrong. The number na 40, no be 60. So na the second quarter be the one to watch."
No long story. No "sorry o, I no dey good with number." No explanation of where the wrong figure come from, wey nobody ask for and wey go keep the mistake for screen another thirty seconds. The correction na the shortest useful thing wey you fit talk, and the moment wey you talk am, the room want make you dey somewhere else. Na why the third part matter as much as the first two. Moving on na the signal itself. E dey tell everybody say the mistake na ordinary thing.
Volume matter pass wetin people think. Talk am for the same level wey you use talk the mistake. To drop your voice na the common instinct and e dey do the opposite of wetin you want, because quiet correction dey read like say shame catch you, and correction wey shame full am dey tell the room say the mistake na big deal.
The same three parts dey work for stage as e dey work for meeting, and dem dey work when na another person catch am instead of you. If person for the second row talk say na forty, you no go defend am and you no go thank am tey tey. "You correct, na 40. That one mean say na the second quarter be the one to watch." Six seconds, no drama, and now the room get two facts about you: the figure don correct, and you be person wey dey update for public without wahala. Both of those two worth pass if you for been correct about the number.
Make I apologise, abi na just correct am?
Small acknowledgment dey help, long apology no dey help. Peter Kim and him colleagues study how trust dey repair and dem find out say when the failure na about competence, meaning say you get something wrong instead of say you lie, apology dey repair trust better pass denial.
So "I get that one wrong" dey do real work. Na small words, e accept the mistake plain, and e make you the person wey dey correct your own record instead of the person wey another person suppose correct. Wetin that research no support na the apology tour: the follow-up email, the second apology for end of meeting, the mention of am three days later. Every repeat dey ask the room make dem look the mistake again, and unlike the first one, none of dem dey add any information.
The line easy to hold for real life. Acknowledge once, correct once, and no bring am up again unless another person bring am.
Why the correction must carry the correct answer?
Because correction wey no get replacement dey leave the wrong fact for ground. Irene Kan and her colleagues, wey study how people dey update after dem tell dem say something na lie, find out say to give alternative na the one thing wey consistently reduce the pull of the wrong information, and say to pair that alternative with direct correction work pass everything.
Na the whole reason for the middle part of the script. "That number no correct" dey leave the room holding sixty and question mark. "The number na 40, no be 60" dey replace am. To talk the wrong figure and the correct figure together na wetin dey let people overwrite wetin dem don already write, and na that one you really want, because half of the room don write sixty for dem note.
E also explain why "I go follow up on that one" weak pass how e sound when you already sabi the answer. Follow up when you truly no get the figure. When you get am, talk am now now, for the same breath, while the room still dey hold the question.
Wetin if the mistake big pass number?
Then separate the fact from the recommendation for loud, and talk which one change. "The refund number no correct. Na 40, no be 60. That one no change wetin I dey recommend, and na why be this."
Wrong figure na competence slip and the room dey treat am so. Wetin dey make people nervous no be the mistake, na say dem no sabi whether the conclusion still safe, so answer that one before dem go need ask. If the conclusion change, talk am for the same sixty seconds and talk wetin you go do instead. Person wey dey revise recommendation for the spot, with reason, dey show exactly the thing wey the room dey try figure out about am.
Where the mistake concern something wey no be accuracy, like promise wey you miss, or something wey you talk say you don do but you no do, that one na different repair and e dey take longer pass one sentence. The same research on trust make that difference clear: the plain acknowledgment wey dey fix competence error no be the tool for the other kind.
Wetin if na one hour later I notice?
Correct am for the same channel, for the earliest natural moment, and keep am to two sentences. "One correction from this morning. The refund number na 40, no be 60, and e no change the recommendation."
Same channel matter. If the mistake happen for loud inside room, quiet message to one person go leave the other eleven people holding the wrong figure. If e happen inside document, fix the document and add one line say you fix am. Do am before another person do am, because the difference between "I get that one wrong" and "abeg, that one no correct" wey another person talk na the difference between person wey dey audit him own work and person wey need audit.
Wetin the room really dey remember
No be the number. Almost nobody for that room fit tell you next week wetin the wrong figure be, and plenty of dem no even notice until you talk something.
Wetin dem dey keep na fifteen seconds impression of how person dey behave when dem catch am, and that impression dey used later, for rooms wey you no dey inside, when person ask whether dem fit trust you with something bigger. When you handle am well, public correction na one of the cheapest way to prove say your numbers worth believing, because you just show the room say you for tell dem if e no correct.
There be one version of this wey dey compound for the other direction, and e good make we name am so you fit avoid am. The person wey never correct anything for public no be person wey no dey make mistake. Na person wey another person dey find him mistake later, usually for worse moment and for front of more people. To correct sharp sharp na the cheaper one, every single time, and the cost dey fall as you dey do am more, because room wey don see you do am twice go stop to treat am like event at all.
One more thing, since na wetin people really dey worry about afterwards. To dey play the correction back for your head for the rest of the day no dey do the room anything and e dey chop the sharpness of your next two hours of work. The sixty seconds na the whole medicine. Once you spend dem, the useful thing wey remain na to check where the wrong number come from, fix that one, and continue your day.
So use the sixty seconds. Talk the correction, talk the correct fact, continue, and make the rest of the meeting be the part wey people go remember. Then go back to the work wey you dey do before, wey dey go well, and wey still dey go well.
Sources
- PubMed, Removing the shadow of suspicion: the effects of apology versus denial for repairing competence- versus integrity-based trust violations
- Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, Exploring factors that mitigate the continued influence of misinformation