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When something went wrong, and it was my fault, I was expected to take accountability. This was rewarded by not having folks try to smear or attack me. It was a simple statement of fact. We found the problem, and took steps to mitigate (which could include removing me from the project).
No rancor, no name-calling, no status games.
Needless to say, this did not translate to the American management, who liked to do a sack dance.
I’ve worked in organisations that distinguish between responsibility and accountability. If a manager assigns a task to someone then that person is responsible for it. However, the manager may be accountable if something goes wrong, e.g. if the person isn’t correctly trained.
I’ve worked in organisations that distinguish between responsibility and accountability. If a manager assigns a task to someone then that person is responsible for it. However, the manager may be accountable if something goes wrong, e.g. if the person isn’t correctly trained.
For people interested in this, look at the RACI framework. https://project-management.com/understanding-responsibility-... - I don't see it used in a way of moving away from a blame culture, but more when an organization has tasks falling in between the gaps.
> When something goes wrong in an organization, the first question that is often posed is, “Whose fault is it?” Pro tip: If you have a manager who acts like this, or even worse, an org, then it is best to find a better work environment. Having said that, these scenarios tend to be in the minority. One of my best jobs had the department head say to his staff when things go wrong: "I don't want to hear X screwed up. I…
There is a tradeoff between frequency and severity of screwups and rate of progress. This tradeoff should be made deliberately; just going from "screwups always bad" will not reach the best balance for the health of the organization.
This is focused on organizations but I will emphasize how moving from blame to accountability (or ownership) is a transformative stance for ourselves as individuals (as described in Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink). We often try to protect our egos by shifting blame, making excuses or just avoiding challenges altogether because blame and failure are such a negative experience. But instead of self-blame if you inst…
The opposite of blame seeking is in my opinion embracing failure and understanding (as an org) that innovations and progress is made by the willingness to fail.
Seeing failure as the result of hard work, a necessary evil, causes blame seeking to vanish imho. Together with accountability this sets the organization op for incremental improvement. Never blame a person. Blame the system or process. The one we made up together.
The real difference is made by the kind of people who interpret mistakes and respond to them. They need to have passion for the job, be perfectionists who search to improve their output and who take negative feedback as valuable information. That's partly nature, partly nurture, but by the time the people get a job it's way too late to fix anything, let alone by using one word instead of another.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dutch has that distinction as well. Shows you not to trust ChatGPT.
Does ChatGPT ever say "I don't know"?
> Yes, if I don't have the information or knowledge required to answer your question, I will respond by saying "I don't know" or a similar phrase that indicates my lack of knowledge on the subject. However, I will do my best to provide you with the most accurate and helpful response possible based on the information and capabilities available to me.
And sure enough on obvious things it can't know it will say that. "What color is my shirt" for example.
The problem is it will bullshit as confidently as the loudest pub bore, and while it's sometimes right, it's often wrong
This is focused on organizations but I will emphasize how moving from blame to accountability (or ownership) is a transformative stance for ourselves as individuals (as described in Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink). We often try to protect our egos by shifting blame, making excuses or just avoiding challenges altogether because blame and failure are such a negative experience. But instead of self-blame if you inst…
This seems like a great way to develop or exasperate mental illnesses like OCD.