Build a Culture of Responsibility
Marlene Chism
We build confident leaders, collaborative relationships, and accountable cultures. | Keynote Speaking | Executive Retreats | Advising | Online course: The Performance Coaching Model
Today, more than ever we need leaders who teach, model, and coach personal responsibility. Here’s why: Responsible people build responsible work cultures. The more responsible the people, the better the relationships and the better the work environment. The better the environment, the higher the retention. The higher the retention the better the customer service. You get the picture.
Take a birds eye view of your culture and you will find that the areas where we are least responsible are the areas where there's the most mismanaged conflict. It shows up as
Most of us think we are pretty responsible but fail to recognize that when we complain and don’t seek resolution, we’re falling into a victim orientation. We forget that while choice may be limited, we can still decide to be responsible for our outlook, attitude, and the way we show up.
A common way many of us avoid responsibility is by avoiding difficult conversations, not only with employees, but with peers and bosses.
I have advised many consultants, colleagues, and employees to leave a job if they can't have an honest conversation with those in power.
Any areas where we’re having difficulty but not learning from the difficulty is an area where we might subconsciously be avoiding personal responsibility.
Three Components of Responsibility
To lead, model, or coach responsibility means we must understand what responsibility is made of. Here are the three components, following a breakdown of each component.
1.????Responsibility is the recognition of choice.
2.????Responsibility is the ownership of choice.
3.????Responsibility is the acceptance of consequences.
?#1 Responsibility is the Recognition of Choice
If you don't know how to recognize your choices you'll be stuck in unproductive patterns. The analogy I use is The Wizard of Oz.?Dorothy had the power all along, but because?she didn't know she had the power?she got into all kinds of trouble searching for her way back to Kansas.
Your power is always in your ability to choose.
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As a leader, consultant or coach, a primary way to spot victim mentality is when someone says, "I don't have any choices." If you don't know that you have a choice you won't take the choice. You'll be stuck in "Kansas" looking for OZ.
Until an individual can identify their choices, they are a victim of circumstances instead of co-creator of their life.
#2 Responsibility is the Ownership of the Choice
Once you?recognize?the choice, the next level of responsibility is to?own the choice?you make. (This means you can't blame anyone for talking you into something.)
When you don't particularly like the choices available to you, you don't stick your head in the sand to avoid looking at the situation. You don't stay on the fence forever complaining about how none of the choices are optimal. You don't keep revisiting the past on what someone else did wrong or what you should have done, or why you shouldn't be in this situation.
You let go of resistance. You do your due diligence and pick the best choice. You own the decision. You make the best choice given your current level of knowledge, experience, and current circumstance.
#3?Responsibility is acceptance of the consequences.
Once you?recognize your choice,?and?own the choice?you then also must?accept the consequences of your choices.?If you're unhappy with the results you can't abdicate responsibility by justifying or blaming. The end result is where you learn whether your decision making was productive or ineffective.
One of my favorite author Gary Zukav, author of Seat of the Soul, says,
"Responsible choice is a choice that takes into account the consequences of each of your choices. In order to make a responsible choice you must ask yourself, for each choice that you are considering, what will this produce? Do I really want to create that? Am I ready to accept all of the consequences of this choice?"
It's difficult to be responsible all of the time. No matter what your level of development, you can never know the outcome of the choices you failed to recognize, or failed to take. There will be unforeseen variables that contribute to the outcome. You will make mistakes in judgment.
The real test is to see where you break the chain of responsibility: is it in recognizing the choice, owning the choice or accepting the consequences of the choice?
Marlene Chism is a consultant, speaker, and the author of??From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading?(Berrett-Koehler 2022). She is a recognized expert on the LinkedIn Global Learning platform. Connect with Chism via?LinkedIn,?or at?MarleneChism.com
BDM @ Prime Oil FZE | Procurement Manager EX APEX | Be the "Leader" People Won't Leave
1 年This is so true and common in many workplaces unfortunately (lack of responsibility). Thank you for sharing the insight and offering feasible approaches ??
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1 年Marlene, when I started my career (LOOOOONG time ago) I attended a seminar about Management by responsibility. Over the next 3-4 decades, I have used the concepts of that program. It's great to hear this word come to the forefront again. If we each assumed the responsibility for our decisions/choices/actions and didn't hide behind nameless internet identities. The world might be a very different place! I think there are two components to successful responsibility: (1) It must be delegated to employees. If leaders only delegate tasks, employees will be demotivated and won't wrestle accountability from the leader. Responsibility needs to be delegated. (2) Once delegated, responsibility must be accepted. It's not enough to delegate responsibility, leaders need to verify that responsibility has been accepted, and what the employee thinks they've accepted responsibility for! I'm with you on what you have said about responsibility!