Getting Thrown Under The Bus: Prevention and Recovery

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Nathan Ranamagar

 Ahead of the release of the Flofinder prototype, we will be releasing a series of articles on workplace life. We hope you enjoy the first article below.

We have all been there (and if not, well done), you are at work and something has gone terribly wrong. The issue is large enough to warrant an internal investigation to identify who is responsible and somehow it’s you! This is the generally accepted meaning of getting ‘thrown under the bus’ and it is a situation that no one wants to be in. Let’s go over a few tips that will hopefully reduce the possibility of this happening to you.

Disclaimer: The tips below are for instances where you have genuinely been treated unfairly. If you have made a legitimate mistake it is best to show some class, take the blame and move on.

Prevention

Make friends

A good first action is to build solid relationships with your team/colleagues. You will go into the depths of the jungle with them and things can begin to get tense very quickly. Strong early relationships will pay dividends later; you will be surprised at how many times you will be saved because someone ‘has your back’. However, it has to be said that in some cases no matter how hard you try to build a solid foundation things just don’t work out on a personal level or the foundation begins to break when under the stressful work environment. Move on to the next phases if this happens to you.

Keep a record of everything

When you are close to getting thrown under the bus there tends to be a fair amount of accusations being thrown around with limited grounding. It is therefore important to keep written evidence (e.g. email trails) of any communications you have especially regarding work allocations and timelines. Evidence to this end should hopefully squash any false accusations. Although maintaining a detailed written trail may be considered a bit much, especially if you are comfortable with your team, it is for the best and will also help keep work allocation organised.

Go ad-hoc

If you were unable to use any of the advice listed above, it is not the end of the world and you still have opportunities to recover. It is time to write ad-hoc emails to explain your position and re-confirm what was previously agreed. Although this isn’t best practice at least you have tried to keep everything recorded and re-emphasise who has done what in the process. At this time it may also be useful to speak with your team/colleagues just so that they are all aware of the current position. You might get lucky and a few teammates will stand with you if you get the blame.

Recovery

So for one reason or another, you were unable to prevent the inevitable and you are under the bus that has already run you over multiple times. It is obviously quite difficult to manage this on an emotional level as you feel that you are getting unfairly attacked. In these instances, there is one question to ask: Is it worth the effort to clear your name? You should be aware that even though you have done nothing wrong, protesting your innocence can lead to further negative results (no one likes a ‘cry baby’). Therefore you have to acknowledge the risks and judge accordingly. In most cases, it is best to take it on the chin and keep what you learned in mind for next time.

Always remember that all of the most successful people have been under the bus at least a few times in their career. Get up, brush it off and try again.

Good luck and enjoy the office!

Nathan

Nathan Ranamagar is the founder of flofinder.com and an ex-Deloitte consultant. He is an advocate of workplace transparency and high quality fried chicken.

Worklife

COMMENTS

Sow-Mun August 31, 2017 7:13 am

Awesome first article 😀 definitely good advice and wisdom there 😉 keep it up!

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