The Colleague Who Keeps Making Mistakes
A funeral service arranger, with 14 years' service, has made three errors in five weeks: a service time entered an hour early, a family's contact number transposed, and a coffin finish ordered in the wrong wood. None caused a funeral to fail, but the hour-early error meant a family arrived at the crematorium to find the previous service still running. The arranger is popular with families and denies any problem, saying 'everyone makes mistakes'. A junior colleague privately tells you the arranger has been 'forgetful and snappy' since a bereavement last year and often skips the double-check step. You are the team leader.
1. How should the team leader handle this, balancing compassion with performance management?
Read the worked answer
- Start from evidence, not gossip. Compile the three errors with dates, consequences, and whether the double-check was followed. The pattern, not any single error, is the issue.
- Hold a private, structured conversation. Describe the specific errors and their impact factually; ask open questions about workload, wellbeing, and the double-check step. Do not lead with the bereavement rumour.
- Separate support from standards. It is legitimate to offer support (EAP, flexible hours, occupational health) while still requiring the checking process to be followed. Compassion does not mean lowering the standard.
- Address the skipped double-check directly as a process failure, because that is the controllable cause. Agree a short, written improvement plan with review dates.
- Protect the junior colleague who raised the concern: do not reveal the source, and thank them for speaking up.
- Consider whether the bereavement is relevant by asking, not assuming; if the arranger discloses it, signpost support and adjust workload temporarily.
- Escalate to HR if errors continue, following the disciplinary policy - but only after support has been offered and documented.
- Fix the system too: if one person's memory is the only safeguard, the double-check needs to be a recorded step, not a habit.
2. What systemic changes would reduce the risk of recurrence?
Read the worked answer
- Make the double-check a recorded, signed step on the arrangement form, with a second person confirming service time, contact details, and coffin specification.
- Use a standard checklist at the point of booking and a second check before the order goes to the supplier and the crematorium.
- Confirmation back to the family in writing (service time, date, venue) so an error is caught by the family before the day.
- Weekly cross-check of bookings against crematorium schedules.
- Training refresh on the booking system and on the consequences of timing errors.
- Review workload and staffing at peak periods; errors cluster when people are rushed.
- Record and review near-misses so patterns are visible before a funeral is affected.
- Set a culture where reporting a mistake is safe and expected, not punished automatically.