When disaster strikes, and you hear that you'll be "held accountable," do you calmly ask yourself, "How can I help us figure out what went wrong?" Or do you think, "How can I become totally invisible in a hurry?"
The word accountability is widely misused. To be accountable means to be responsible for and answerable for an activity. If something goes wrong, those accountable are expected to answer for their part in the goings-on, because we need their knowledge if we want to perfect our flawed systems.
Blame is something more. To be blamed is to be accountable in a way deserving of censure, discipline, or other penalty, either explicit or tacit.
Accountable does not mean "blame-able." Accountability and blame differ in at least four dimensions.
- Learning vs. punishment
- Understanding how the failure happened helps us prevent similar failures. Because those accountable often have useful information, we value their participation in organizational learning, usually in the form of retrospectives or after-action reviews.
- If blame is the goal, instead of real organizational learning, activity usually stops after we've found the culprit or culprits. There isn't much role for them in retrospectives. Once we tag them, their only role is to receive punishment.Fear of accountability
is a strong indicator
of blaming - Incidence of fear
- If we really are seeking those accountable, fear isn't a factor. Those accountable have nothing to fear unless actual negligence or corruption is involved, and then the failure isn't the issue — their malfeasance is.
- Fear of accountability is a strong indicator of blaming. Generally, if people fear being identified as "accountable" for a specific failure, it's with good reason — perhaps they committed some form of malfeasance, or maybe the "accountability" is actually blame.
- Org chart altitude distribution
- Those with responsibility are accountable, and those with the most responsibility are high up on the org chart.
- When we find those accountable at many levels of the org chart, we're more likely to be assigning accountability; when we find those accountable concentrated at the bottom of the org chart, chances are that we're assigning blame.
- Acknowledging interdependence
- Nearly everything we do is a group effort; rarely is only one person — or even one team — fully responsible for any action or decision.
- If we truly seek to find those accountable, the result is probably a list — sometimes a long list. If we seek to blame, usually one person is enough to feed the beast.
Even if your culture is blame-free, when you seek those accountable for a failure, you might encounter reactions based on past experiences of blame and punishment, rather than the accountability of here-and-now. To maintain an accountability-based culture free of blame, accept these reactions for what they are, and work to bring everyone into the present. Top
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Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info
Blame-oriented cultures and accountability-oriented cultures differ in other ways, too. For indicators that an organizational culture is a blaming culture, see "Top Ten Signs of a Blaming Culture," Point Lookout for February 16, 2005. For the effects of blame on the investigations of unwanted outcomes, see "Obstacles to Finding the Reasons Why," Point Lookout for April 4, 2012. For more on blaming and blaming organizations, see "Organizational Coping Patterns" and "Plenty of Blame to Go Around," Point Lookout for August 27, 2003.
Reader Comments
- Erin Kelley-McNeely, EKM Consulting Services & Writing Solutions
- Boy…this is one of your best ones! I hope it gets full attention from your audience with all the holiday stuffage. It's also very timely to year-end objectives being met (or not) with performance reviews for 2005 the first order of business in 2006!
- I wanted to add something — in case you reprise this article. Accountability versus Blame also fosters creativity rather than stifles it. Accountability also allows for true pride in a job well done. Accountability is not just for those things that go wrong. I have seen people live in fear of blame and either spend too much of their time in CYA or lose their creative edge altogether.
- Great work Rick. You never disappoint!
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
Narcissistic Behavior at Work: VII
- Narcissistic behavior at work prevents trusting relationships from developing. It also disrupts existing
relationships, and generates toxic conflict. One class of behaviors that's especially threatening to
relationships is disregard for the feelings of others. In this part of our series we examine the effects
of that disregard.
Narcissistic Behavior at Work: VIII
- Narcissistic behavior at work can have roots in attitudes and beliefs. Understanding which attitudes
or beliefs underlie narcissistic behavior can sometimes have predictive value. Among such attitudes
or beliefs are those related to envy.
Appearance Anti-patterns: I
- Appearances can be deceiving. Just as we can misinterpret the actions and motivations of others, others
can misinterpret our own actions and motivations. But we can take steps to limit these effects.
Implicit Interrogations
- Investigations at work can begin with implicit interrogations — implicit because they're unannounced
and unacknowledged. The goal is to determine what people did or knew without revealing that an investigation
is underway. When asked, those conducting these interrogations often deny they're doing it. What's the
nature of implicit interrogations?
Multi-Expert Consensus
- Some working groups consist of experts from many fields. When they must reach a decision by consensus,
members have several options. Defining those options in advance can help the group reach a decision
with all its relationships intact.
See also Workplace Politics and Conflict Management for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming July 3: Additive bias…or Not: II
- Additive bias is a cognitive bias that many believe contributes to bloat of commercial products. When we change products to make them more capable, additive bias might not play a role, because economic considerations sometimes favor additive approaches. Available here and by RSS on July 3.
And on July 10: On Delegating Accountability: I
- As the saying goes, "You can't delegate your own accountability." Despite wide knowledge of this aphorism, people try it from time to time, especially when overcome by the temptation of a high-risk decision. What can you delegate, and how can you do it? Available here and by RSS on July 10.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group