When reviewing the literature about leadership a common theme emerges: responsibility. The best leaders all take responsibility. Each book gives it a different name and uses different examples, but it always comes down to responsibility. Here are three ways great leaders accept responsibility and make their companies better.
1. Taking Blame/Passing on Praise
The best leaders shield their teams from blame, and shine a light on their successes. If your company or team has a bad quarter, a great leader will take the blame. “I need to see what I can do better next quarter,” or “I made some mistakes and intend to learn from them.” However, if the team has a great quarter he will pass the praise on to the team. “The excellent sales numbers are due to all the hard work my team put in,” or “Becky brought in that big account, and Jim managed to find ways to maximize our leads.”
We all know the leader or manager had the same team during the down quarter, but as a great leader she knows that the “buck stops” with her. Anyone can take credit for success, but a great leader will take credit for failures.
2. Owning the Inputs
This is a phrase I learned from the Manger Tools Podcast. The basic idea is this: if you are assigned a report that is due on Friday (for example) and you need some sales figures from Rob in accounting, it’s your responsibility, not Rob’s, to make sure you have those sales figures in time to complete the report by Friday. Again, it’s similar to accepting blame. You can’t just say, “Well Rob didn’t get me those sales figures”. It’s your responsibility to get those figures from Rob, or come up with another way of getting those figures.
Leader and manager aren’t actually synonymous, but if you want to be a great leader, it starts with knowing how to get the best out of everyone who reports to you.
3. Internal vs. External Motivations
Great leaders also view problems internally versus externally. For example, a person could look at poor sales and say, “Well the economy’s bad and no one is buying.” (External) Or, they could look at sales and say, “Sales are bad, what could WE be doing differently.” (Internal) When you view the world from internal motivations, you’ve given yourself what they call in literature agency. You’ve taken control and can affect change. A hurricane is a force of nature you are unable to stop (external), but you can board up your windows, sandbag your doors, or even evacuate (internal).
These three examples, when taken together, make for a powerful way of leading at work. I firmly believe that my buying partner and I owe our several years of success to following these ideas of responsibility. I often say that “everything that goes wrong in my department is my fault” If an item is priced incorrectly in our San Antonio store, that’s my responsibility. If something isn’t merchandised properly in Ft. Worth, my fault. By accepting responsibility for everything that goes wrong, I accept the responsibility for making it right.
By accepting responsibility you also open yourself up for improvement. A person who thinks they know everything, is not going to try to learn more. When you accept responsibility, even for the things you didn’t do wrong, you are forced to search for answers you might not have otherwise.
Joe Robles 