The Skinny On Responsibility, Blame, And Holding Others To Account
Responsibility can be difficult to embrace. It means the buck stops with you whether you’re at fault or not. Delegating isn’t an option. You’re the one who has to make a decision or do something to create forward movement. If you’ve been handed a mess, you have to clean it up. It may not even be your own mess, but when you’re responsible, it’s yours to resolve.
Why would anyone want to take responsibility for something they didn’t create? Or clean up someone else’s mess? Shouldn’t the person at fault clean up their own mess?
Not if you want swift resolution.
If you want to solve a problem, you must leave all blame behind. It sounds illogical, but it’s actually the most effective way to problem solve. To understand more, let’s look at how and why blame gets in the way.
Blame prevents resolution
Have you ever been yelled at by a boss, a teacher, or a parent? Have you noticed that no matter how bad your punishment was – whether you got suspended, grounded, or fired – the problem didn’t get solved? Admitting you were wrong didn’t resolve anything, either; it just made the other person feel good for making you feel bad.