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How to manage being 'thrown under the bus'

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Simoon Shiferaw Senior Consultant| ERPi Washington Dc, Dc, United States

In your evolving career, you will experience being 'thrown under the bus'. How do you recognize it? How do you manage it?
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Riyadh Salih Saskatchewan, Canada
Look for another job.
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my hachem babahabib Senior Consultant Project management and Information System| babahabib AE Rabat, Rabat, Morocco
When you are confident and honest with established trust with the majority of stakeholders, the risk of being thrown under the bus becomes large but the likelihood of getting out and stronger is also great.

The first things that I find useful in these conditions (that I lived) is to think that fortunately it does not rain to torrent and it is not very cold (under the bus i mean stay positive)... then look if possible to convert the negative points into opportunities to bounce back.
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Rami Kaibni
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Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Being thrown under the bus is a very common thing in our line of business especially in construction. Clients might do so sometimes, othertimes contractors will. You always have to keep your cool, make sure you have all facts in place and ensure that you discuss any issues without taking it personal.
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Bruce A Hayes Project Manager, Scrum Master, Product Owner, and freelance Trainer.| Available to partner with you. Let's review your needs to see if we are a match. Fort Wayne, IN, United States
It depends upon why you were thrown under the bus. You have to make an honest assessment before assuming you are not in the first group I describe. And think about it from their perspective, without all the knowledge you have with the details before you.

If you are being made the scape-goat because you are the person responsible; be glad you're under bus and not in front of the tires. Own up to it and keep away form the tires. You should be able to recover by showing you are a responsible person in your next assignment.

However, this questions is most often asked when someone under the bus doesn't belong there. If you really don't then you have to pick your battle. If it's one person saying you are to blame, it might be best to ignore it and let the people around you see you aren't really responsible. They will then see you are able to shrug off the pettiness and are able to focus on the work, not the worker. If it's something your manger and sponsors won't understand, take them aside and explain what you did and did not do with what information you had at the time. They will then see you don't belong under the bus, or will offer you instruction as to how to mange the situation in the future.
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