If you’re trying to build an effective governance culture, it’s important that everyone knows what these words mean … and how they work in your culture.
These ideas are often mashed together in ways that are real head-scratchers. And, to say it up front, I’m talking about ‘common usage’ for these terms. If they exist for you in a specific legal or contractually defined sense, ignore my comments. Go with the legal stuff.
I think there are 3 fundamentally different ideas at play. And we can assign these three words to clearly differentiate them.
1. One person asks another person to deliver some useful outcome. The second person agrees to do so. Person #2 now has a responsibility deliver that outcome to Person #1. Maybe they will do it on their own. Or maybe they will lead a team (or a company) in pursuit of that outcome. Either way, that person – and only that person – has the responsibility to deliver the agreed-upon outcome.
2. While that person is pursuing their responsibility, things can get difficult. Will they give up when things get tough? Will they settle for a lesser outcome? Or will they tough it out and do whatever it takes to fulfill their responsibility? That, to me, is commitment.
3. And, later on, when it’s time to count the chips on the table … will that individual willingly own the results? If things didn’t go well, will they try to lay blame on issues outside their control? Or will they believe that they should have done more – and learn from these results so they an do better next time? Owning the outcome of their efforts – good or bad – is accountability.
As you might see, accepting responsibility can be easy, especially if it’s potentially lucrative. And commitment and accountability go hand-in-hand because if a person lacks commitment, they will start looking for ways to avoid accountability. So don’t just look for someone to accept the responsibility. Find someone who will be committed.
Oh – let me touch on one other thing. “Holding someone accountable” is often used when they really mean “placing blame”. Two things on this. First, in my view, you can never “hold someone accountable”. Accountability to me is about character; a willingness by someone to stand up for their acts and outcomes. If they don’t feel accountable, you can’t ‘hold’ them accountable … except, perhaps, in a legal and financial sense. Blame, on the other hand, is always initiated by someone else. Maybe the blame is fair. Or, maybe it’s not. But I’ll say this – if you have a culture of accountability, blame is not only unnecessary, it is dangerous and destructive. And if you don’t have a culture of accountability, that’s a leadership issue.
But maybe I’m missing something. What are your thoughts?
This image was generated by Microsoft Bing Image Creator on 8/19/2024
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