Mistaking Colleagues’ Names – Interchanging Them
Mistaking Colleagues’ Names – Interchanging Them
My team members and C-suite
The CEO used to confuse and call team members of the same ethnicity and gender the wrong name – using the name of another colleague. It didn’t just happen once or twice but consistently. One time, they even said ‘well it was hard to tell who you were on screen, so sorry that I called you by (the other colleague’s) name.
It made team members feel like they weren’t seen or valued as individuals or as employees. If it had only happened once or twice, then it wouldn’t have mattered but because it happened all the time, it became embarrassing.
As a leader, I didn’t know how to handle it. I should have had the courage to tell the CEO that it was being noticed as a consistent mistake but I didn’t want to make them uncomfortable and defensive.