#9, May 27, 2008
One of the biggest challenges every leader faces is personal responsibility. The organization holds you accountable for the results of your team, so what are the team members responsible for?
One of the guiding principles I live my life by is: I am responsible for myself. If I am responsible for myself, then each of my team members is responsible for themselves. I cannot control their behavior, so I cannot be responsible for them.
However, as a leader, I am responsible to my team. I am responsible to them for:
- Creating a work environment in which they actually want to work--where they want to and can perform at their best.
- Ensuring they have the resources they need to do their jobs.
- Putting systems in place that produce excellent results and removing barriers to their success.
- Coaching and mentoring team members when their performance is not up to the standard we expect.
- Developing the talent in my team so we continually improve our performance.
When something goes wrong--when we don't achieve a goal or someone makes a mistake--I have found that looking for a scapegoat doesn't help. Problem solving works much better than assigning blame.
Ask the team:
- What can we learn from this situation?
- What are the opportunities that this situation creates?
- How can we improve our systems so this doesn't happen again?
Taking responsibility for getting the problem solved, even when you didn't create it, helps your team members see that mistakes can be an opportunity to learn how to improve performance. You will also be setting an example to your team members that you expect them to be responsible as well. Building accountability is the subject of next week's tip, Increasing Personal Responsibility in Your Team.
Keep reading our Weekly Leadership Tips for ways you can create a work environment where all team members are engaged, committed to your organization, and passionate about doing a great job every time.
Share these ideas with others. They may request their own free subscription by going to our contact form and clicking on Weekly Leadership Tips.
© 2007 Keith Ayers. All rights reserved.
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