My People Don't Make Mistakes

"My people don't make mistakes."

It was a simple sentence in an email exchange that occurred recently at a large grain handling company. Before we go any further with that story, let's give some thought to what that sentence actually means.

For example, if we emphasize different words, we can hear completely different meanings:

1. "My people don't make mistakes" sounds a bit boastful and challenging, implying a comparison between My people and Your people. This interpretation might trigger a defensive reaction, along the lines of "My people don't make mistakes either!"
2. "My people don't make mistakes" suggests an admission that mistakes are happening but with an insistence that the people are not the problem. Perhaps equipment or technology or work instructions are failing, but the people are doing a good job.

3. "My people don't make mistakes" sounds defensive, as if responding to a previous accusation that these people do, indeed, make a lot of mistakes. It pleadingly suggests that we look elsewhere for the problem.
4. "My people don't make mistakes" sounds like a clarification, an explanation that although mistakes are indeed happening, it's not that the people are doing anything wrong - it's just chance, randomness, the mistakes are just happening.
5. "My people don't make mistakes" seems to admit that something is going wrong, but that it's not accurate to call these things mistakes. Perhaps they're just misunderstandings or misinterpretations, but they're not mistakes.

With a little work and imagination, we could come up with many more interpretations. If you were to add in a little more context, the possibilities could become even more varied.

Back at the grain company, this unfortunate little sentence triggered a flurry of emails, a large number of concerned phone calls, and an emergency meeting to resolve the inter-departmental conflict that emerged. After much discussion, it was discovered that the intent of the writer was close to number 2, admitting that something in his department was going wrong, but suggesting that something other than people seemed to be the source of the mistakes. This was a non-threatening, non-challenging statement - he was reporting what he'd found and was still looking for the problem.

It turns out that almost nobody interpreted the sentence that way, but at least one person reacted to each of the other four meanings. And things went to hell, for a little while at least.

Communication is hard. People do make mistakes. Close the loop with dialogue and conversation. And careful what you put in an email.