"The worst part was I had to admit to my boss that I couldn’t do the project on my own!"
Whether you are the boss or follow someone else’s lead, responsibility is a concept that many of us misinterpret as performing a task. Growing up all I ever wanted was responsibility. My mom loves to tell people about my “terrible-2’s” age when I went around slamming doors saying “My DOOR!” and putting my shoes on the wrong feet because they were “MY SHOES!”. Like most kids at that age I wanted to control my surroundings and have direct influence over my achievements.
But does that fully describe being responsible? The actions of most people I have worked with seem to agree with this definition because they strive to be the person who actually does the work to fulfill their responsibility. I disagree with that definition.
To be responsible in my company means that you will do everything you can to ensure a goal is achieved regardless of the “how”, “who”, “what”, “where” or “when”. Responsibility is as simple as agreeing to follow something through to completion. Unfortunately many people complicate this concept by fusing it with their ego, their own personal desire to perform the actual work and to be recognized for the work, not the achievement of the goal.
We all want to be recognized for doing a job well, but achieving a collective goal requires recognizing every person’s talents and contributions, not just the person responsible. When I was in my 20’s I thought that I could do everything myself and I wanted to be recognized for my talents. And then I was given a deadline to finish a job that couldn’t be done by my efforts alone. To complete my job I would have to get help, support from my boss and possibly spend money on tools that would save my overall project time and money. I was terrified because I knew I was destined to fail. The worst part was I had to admit to my boss that I couldn’t do the project on my own! NOW what is the definition of responsibility?
Being responsible means to:
- Make use of all your resources, not just yourself
- Ask for help from your boss and peers
- Work smarter, not harder
Most important of all, responsibility means that you will give your boss a chance to help you when your project is at risk for failing or not being done on time.
As a manager I want my team to tell me when a project is at risk. Since my responsibility is for the entire company’s success I want to be given the opportunity to help keep a project on track so I can live up to MY responsibility. Yeah, that’s right – bosses have responsibility too!
A key difference between being a good boss and a bad boss is how one deals with this concept of responsibility. A bad boss will make someone feel bad for asking for help to fulfill their responsibility. A good boss will reward someone for seeking help and exposing project risks in order to ensure the team’s collective success. Whether you are the leader of a team or a leader of one (yourself), what kind of boss do you want to be?
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