In B2B organizations, success centers around smooth collaboration between Sales, Marketing, Product, Customer Success, and Support. But when things break down, such as missed deadlines, misaligned priorities, and poor handoffs, frustration can often turn into blame.
This is where attribution error can show up and damage teams. But what is an attribution error? Simply put, it’s the tendency to assume that someone else’s actions are due to who they are, rather than considering the circumstances or greater context that may have influenced their behavior. In workplace scenarios, we’ll sometimes hear: “Sales always overpromises,” “Support escalates issues too late,” or “Product development moves too slowly.”
In the world of qualitative research, these kinds of assumptions come up in respondent feedback. Team members tend to express their frustrations not just about what happened, but also about why they believe it happened. More often than not, their explanations point toward attribution and blame, rather than a deeper understanding of the surrounding context.
As Albert Einstein once said, “Assumptions are made, and most assumptions are wrong.” Rarely do we stop to ask: What constraints are they working under? In high-pressure B2B environments, these quick judgments can be costly, as attribution errors can contribute to the creation of silos. Teams stop giving each other grace, and working together becomes defensive and difficult. Unfortunately, customers as well can feel the impact through inconsistent service experiences, slower resolutions, or misaligned expectations.
In B2B, delivering value requires tight cross-functional collaboration. Customer success doesn’t just sit with one department: it’s a shared effort. That’s why attribution errors can erode trust and performance across the customer journey.
When the blame game takes over, organizations lose sight of what’s most important: serving the customer and establishing relationships. This is where White Glove Service Training can make a real difference. Its core principles, empathy, anticipation, ownership, and attention to detail, can be transformative when applied internally between teams.
Empathy First
White Glove Service Training encourages teams to understand the pressures and context that other teams may be facing. Instead of rushing to judgment and assuming incompetence, people start asking, “What’s making their job harder, and how can I help?”
Shared Accountability
Rather than defaulting to “That’s not my job,” teams learn to take ownership of outcomes, even if it means stepping outside their lane to keep things moving for the customer.
Proactive Communication
The training reinforces anticipating needs, clarifying expectations, and flagging issues early, reducing misunderstandings that lead to frustration and blame.
Focus on Process, Not Personality
When things go wrong, the impulse moves away from finger-pointing to problem-solving. It creates a culture where feedback is safer and continuous process improvement is normalized.
If your organization is dealing with tension between departments, missed handoffs, or low levels of trust, you might not have a people problem, but rather an attribution problem. White Glove Service Training can help fix this by creating a shared mindset of empathy, service, and ownership, enabling teams to move from isolated blame to integrated collaboration.
Interested in learning more? Contact us to explore how Ideba’s White Glove Service Training can strengthen both your customer experience and your internal culture.
Tamara Clarke – Research Manager
