Whenever something goes wrong, people (you included) tend to look for a scapegoat. And blame has several cousins: justification, politics, self-protection. The worst of them all is defending your position, also known as “It wasn’t my fault.”

It never ceases to amaze me how many perfect people there are in the world. I often wonder if there isn’t some great big black hole of shirked responsibility someplace.

In the business of selling, blame has all kinds of directions it can take. Salespeople are blamed for pretty much everything. Of course, salespeople blame everyone else. The person who suffers immediately is the customer, but the ultimate loser is the company.

When blame is thrown around, it precludes work from being done. It changes productivity into negativity.

Below are antidotes to the blame game. These are things you can do to avoid blaming others and prevent the blame game from reoccurring. They are steps you can take before you blame. But you must realize that blame and self-protection are instinctive responses. To get away from blame, clear and proactive thought must be your dominant mental condition.

The key to stopping blame is intervention that leads to prevention. It’s best accomplished by asking rather than blaming.

Instead of blaming, ask yourself the following:

1. What really happened? Where did things go wrong?

2. What can I do instead of blaming? What are my alternative ways of communicating what went wrong, and still completing the task?

3. What could we have done as a company to prevent this from occurring?

4. How can my expertise help at this moment?

5. Who will fix the situation?

6. How will that get done?

7. Who will be responsible to make sure that the blame issue is resolved?

8. Who will be responsible to make sure the blame issue doesn’t happen again?

9. What are my ideas about how to resolve the issue temporarily and permanently?

I’m sure there are other questions you can ask of yourself and others. What I’ve tried to give you is a list that will start to reverse the blame process. (For your information: The opposite of blame is responsibility.)

Simply put, blame is a waste of time, a waste of energy and a losing proposition for everyone.

I’m most concerned about people who both place blame and defend their position. It seems as though their self-image is weak and their self-protection instinct is somewhat paranoid. It’s almost as though they have to blame someone.

The blame remedies are not easy. The consequences of blame, however, are so divisive and waste so much energy that it’s worth it to make the conscious effort to reduce it or eliminate it completely.

The obvious key is to start with is yourself. Begin by accepting responsibility and/or accepting the challenge to make things right before you have a chance to tell someone they’re wrong.

And for those of you who say, Jeffrey, what does this have to do with sales? I will answer you with a single word: Everything. It has to do with your image. It has to do with your self-esteem. And it has to do with the character of the salespeople and everyone they come in contact with at your company.

Want to make a start? Try thinking about the last two or three things that went wrong at your company. What happened? Who got blamed? What did you do? Replay the tape and ask yourself what you could have done differently, in a more positive way, that might have changed the outcome, preserved the morale and helped someone else save face.

I am amazed at how little is written about blame. Whom could I blame for that?

This lesson is not an easy one, but learning it provides a powerful tool in your quest to be the best.

Free GitBit. Want more ideas on responsibility? Want to take a self-evaluation to see how responsible you really are? Go to www.Gitomer.com. Register if you’re a first-time user and enter the words “I’m responsible” in the GitBit box.

President of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, Jeffrey Gitomer gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.