How to be responsible. Even when you’re not accountable.

stand outThere was a time when I used to think that Responsibility and Accountability meant pretty much the same thing. The distinction between the two became clear after I became a coach. The distinction was not just necessary, but critical to my practice. Soon I realized, knowing the distinction between the two is an essential part of understanding either of them well. Not just for me, but for everybody else.

We often refer to terms like “our responsibilities”, “becoming a responsible person”, “taking responsibility for what happened” etc. Somehow all of these terms and phrases sound to me like responsibility is a burden either somebody puts on us or we put on somebody else. It sounds very much like something that is important for us to do but something we may not necessarily like doing.

When we say someone is shying away from his/her responsibility we’re directly trying to pin that person down for inaction. We refer to responsibility as a duty or as a job someone should be doing (that includes ourselves). It’s as if the person in question has no choice in the matter.

More often than not in all these situations, I see people referring to accountability, not responsibility. It’s in accountability that I see a position of no escape, a position of no choice. Only when someone is accountable, we can demand answers. By holding someone accountable we are getting agreement of action and completion from that person, for a given task or job or duty. We are also implicitly getting agreement that by their holding themselves accountable to us, they give us the right to question whether or not the task has been done (or why it was done the way it was).

Responsibility on the other hand is a matter of individual choice. Responsibility is to be “taken up”, not “burdened upon”.
I could take up the responsibility of switching off meeting room lights/ ACs in my office when they’re not in use.
I could take up the responsibility of helping out a struggling colleague with his work.
I might even take up the responsibility of helping improve the city’s traffic movement by giving useful suggestions to the traffic department.

When I take up these responsibilities, there’s a very good chance I’ll succeed in acting on these tasks. If on the other hand, I’m burdened with these responsibilities, it’s unlikely I’ll care for them much.
The way I see it, when I’m burdened with these responsibilities, they cease to be responsibilities. Then they simply become someone’s wishful thinking packaged in the name of responsibilities.

It is the Admin department’s job or duty to switch off lights when not in use. They are accountable for this. That need not stop other employees from taking up responsibility for this.

In some companies, the manager is accountable for his struggling team member’s performance. It is his job to do something about. You could help this person in your way if you decide to take up responsibility for this.

And of course, the city’s traffic police are accountable to us citizens for ensuring smooth traffic. At the same time, they will be very happy if some citizens take up responsibility for helping them out.

When you take up responsibility for something, you’re doing it out of your own goodwill. Even if you don’t succeed in accomplishing the task, your neck is not going to be on the line, nobody is going to pull you up. That’s the good part.

The better part is that if you DO succeed, there’s a good chance you’ll get appreciated or even rewarded.

Around 2004, when I was working for an MNC, I took up the responsibility of making my office a livelier and more fun place to work. Through a series of events and activities, I managed to transform an office with a rather sleepy work environment into one so energetic, it became a model for our company’s offices in the rest of the region. I was rewarded with a quick promotion and my salary doubled in the next 3 years. The high point of my corporate life came out of my choosing to take responsibility.

I agree, today the term “job responsibility” is used in a totally different way. In the corporate world, people often use the words duties and responsibilities interchangeably.
Let them do so.

All that matters is that you realize what a wonderful gift responsibility is, a gift you can give yourself. Being Proactive is one of the seven habits of highly successful people, according to Stephen Covey. And taking up responsibility is a great way to practice that habit.

In the next article, “The Three levels of Responsibility”, I will share with you how you can use Responsibility in a way that will help you feel in control over events happening in your life.

Till then.. act responsibly, will you?

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