When Playing The Blame Game Goes Wrong

It's never easy to accept responsibility for the things that have gone wrong. But, we all have to whether we like it or not. Here is what I'm going to say about it.

Allowing room for error

Failure to accept responsibility for one's actions is one of my biggest pet peeves. It's one thing be enthusiastic about a development. But as exciting as that development is, it doesn't mean that it is the "one size fits all" solution that cures us all of our ills. As you can see in this case, the failure started off in the messaging and it didn't get any better.

Over the last couple of years, Lone Gold has been working on developments that will help improve our engagement with our customers. While some of them went off without a hitch, others have required more of our time than others. When we failed to meet a deadline, we could've kicked the can down the road and blame someone else for that undesired result. At the end of the day, we all have to realize we all played a crucial part in the outcome and we're just going to have to suck it up.

No matter how well our intentions are, we are all going to come to grips with the fact that we are not in control of the outcome. That means allowing room for error. It's frustrating, but it does gives us a greater appreciation for our developments when they do hit the mark.

In the past couple of months, Lone Gold has been grappling with some unforeseen issues in our developments. What we thought was going to be a cake walk, suddenly has become a major road block in our development. As I usually say, we are working to hard to resolve these issues.

But as we go through this time of great trials, I hope you can extend us a little grace. Even when it came to the success of our past developments, we understood that nothing came easy. This time around is no different. So as you can see, there are possibly going to be delays. In no time, we'll have a greater appreciation for all the hard work that went into this endeavor.

Putting our money where our mouth is

Last month, I was confident that we were going to get the Pathfinder app up and running by no later than early October. As we get closer to the deadline, that does not look like that this is going to be possible. There is plenty of blame to go around and it starts with me.

From the first impressions of our app, everything looked great. However, I made the biggest mistake of letting my enthusiasm get the better of me. When I realized that we were going to miss the deadline, I was extremely disappointed. Yet at the same time, I was not caught off guard.

I know that in any development (new or current), there are lots of moving parts. This app is no exception. So instead of publicly humiliating the development team for this failure, I am going to focus that energy on getting the job done right.

People who have been in my position can call this admonishment all they want to. But when a leader fails to admit his/her mistakes, it stops the progress dead in its tracks. There is no way I'm going to let the team's hard work go down the drain. If that means taking the blame, so be it.

As far as the app's development is concerned, we are going to take some time and re group later this year. There are other current developments that still need our attention and we are going to put our focus on that for the time being. Once the app is completed and available for both Google and Apple users, we'll let you know.

Process and Progress

Because of our focus on the app, our other developments have been waiting in the wings. To say the least, what has happened with the app has been really discouraging. However, we are going to keep chugging along with one major change. Before I continue, let me give you some context.

In my last post, I wrote that we were planning to get Lone Gold Shop up and running by November. We figured with the app and everything going on with our sports site, we felt that the deadline we set was appropriate. Even though the idea of meeting that deadline is more possible, we decided that we will just play it by ear.

The whole idea behind this decision was to take as much pressure off our development team as much as possible. Whether a development is already at work or in the planning stages, there is more pressure than anyone can imagine. Just so we are clear, it doesn't mean that we are pumping the brakes on the app or the shop.

All I am saying is that we are going to put more focus on the project and less on deadlines. We (that includes myself) are all going to have to learn to keep our emotions in check. It is our prerogative that the quality of our developments meets the standards of our customers. Setting unrealistic release dates does not help the cause.

Upcoming Changes

For the time being, we are going to turn our focus on what is already working to our advantage. There are still irons in the fire that we would love to attend to. But right now, we need to get our act together and get back to work on these two developments.

And on a personal note, I am going to stop writing the "President's Blog" on a monthly basis. The whole point of this blog was to give you greater context on what was going on at Lone Gold. Now that we can offer services like mailing lists, I believe this blog doesn't need to be posted as frequently.

My focus will be on getting our Gold Star membership going in the right direction. While we have all the tools at our disposal, we just need to put them use. It's something I am looking to devoting my focus to.

Conclusion

When you play the blame game, everyone loses. It damages morale and destroys any momentum that you have built up. As the old saying goes, "the buck stops here". I am the executive and it is what I signed up for.

Regardless of any one person's position, we are all going to have to deal with failure. Whenever we do fail, we just take the hit, dust ourselves off, and do it all over again. Believe me when I say that our development team does exactly that.

I don't demand perfection, but I do expect people to hold themselves accountable. All I am going to say is that if people want to kick the can down the road, Lone Gold is not a place you want to work at. We lead by example here. And it all starts and ends with yours truly.

To end this post on a positive note, I want you all to remember this one phrase, "failure is a success in progress". Whether you work with us or for us, we want you to understand that we know where you're coming from. People may remember you for your triumphs, but it is our failures that forge our character.

Sincerely,

Aaron Phillips

CEO/President/Founder

Lone Gold