The January 22, 2008 Wall Street Journal included an article in Jared Sandberg’s weekly Cubicle Culture column, entitled: Why Learn and Grow on the Job?  It’s Easier to Feign Infallibility, that fits nicely with my recent posts on leadership decision making. In his column, Sandberg focuses on those individuals that we have all encountered, that masterfully and deliberately avoid taking blame or responsibility for any mistake.  He states: “At work, some people just won’t admit to making a mistake.  They have a gripping fear that it will indict their character, attract more work and invite more blame.”  How true (the existence of these people) and how sad.

The question of the moment is how do you deal with your own mistakes?  Are you a leader that works hard to distance yourself from your mistakes or those of your team members, or do you embrace mistakes as learning experiences and place them in full view?  How you deal with mistakes says a lot about your character as a leader.

I’ve observed a number of different approaches to avoiding responsibility and accountability in corporate environments.  I describe this tendency as “dodge and deflect” and it is truly an experience to watch, work for or work around someone who is an expert in this area.  One of my favorites was the executive that would never make a decision, not because she was indecisive, but because if she never made a decision, she would never be accountable for a mistake.  It drove her team members mad and eventually, they threw her under the proverbial bus.  And backed over her twice.  Others include the leader that is always on the offensive against other functions as a means of drawing attention away from his area of responsibility.  Or, the functional leader that hides behind the supposed black magic that only people in her function understand.  Add in your own favorite examples…we might be able to fill a book.

The fact that “dodge and deflect” artists are so prevalent in organizations is the fault of top leaders that have completely failed to establish honesty and accountability as part of their leadership value system and the organization’s culture.  In extreme cases, leaders not only ignore these important values, but their own actions set the tone for a culture that is anything but open, honest and ready to engage in the tough discussions that will propel people and the business forward.   If you work in one of these politically turbo-charged environments, you’ve got a tough job as  you seek to develop the right leadership habits, especially in the area of accountability.  I would never counsel you to commit political suicide, so you have two choices: create your own center of competence and accountability within your group and/or change employers.

My suggestions for leaders on creating a culture of accountability with their teams:

  • Live by the philosophy that if your team wins it is because of the players. If the team loses, it is your responsibility.
  • Hold yourself accountable for everything you say that you will do. As a leader, you are presented with many opportunities everyday to strengthen or weaken your credibility.  If you indicate to someone that you will get back to them, you need to get back to them.  If you say you have an open door policy, your door better be open and you better be approachable.
  • If the pursuit of innovation is important to your team, you need to develop a culture of experimentation and learning.  If you readily shoot people for mistakes or failed projects, you shoot your own chances for achieving a level of innovation and a culture of accountability, right in the foot.  Turn project failures into powerful “lessons learned” opportunities and experiences.
  • Your own mistakes are powerful learning experiences for you and everyone around you.  Instead of hiding or dodging and deflecting,  you can leverage your own mistakes to reinforce the values of openness, learning and accountability.
  • While mistakes or failures are learning experiences, you have to ensure that you don’t err too far in the wrong direction. Your tolerance of excessive mistakes from one person or one team or of repeated mistakes will work against you.  Take quick and fair action on people with performance problems and don’t easily accept people or teams making the same mistakes.
  • Provide regular, timely, business-focused feedback to your associates and encourage them to do the same with you. Accountability is one of the by-products of a healthy feedback culture.

The bottom-line:

If you are at the top of the food chain, your adoption of the above leadership behaviors can work wonders to change an organization’s culture over time and with reinforcement.  If you are somewhere in the middle, you have a tough job to create a center of accountability in a sea of dodging and deflecting.  Nonetheless, when the day is said and done, you have to choose to be the type of leader that you can look comfortably at in the mirror.  Besides, the best organizational changes start somewhere in the middle, so don’t give up hope that you can make a difference.