By Rhea Wessel
Starting a new job should be exciting, but when Debbie Baute began a role at a
company in 2007, it was more than she bargained for. After just four months in
strategic human resources at Procter & Gamble in Brussels, where Baute oversaw
a department of 65 people, the company decided to move the unit to Geneva,
forcing staff to choose between moving or potentially losing their jobs.
Accept responsibility
What 'owning up' looks like in the office
Admit the problem
Own the error without shifting blame
Endeavour to fix it
Find ways to keep the glitch from reoccurring
Make sure those new ways, once established, are respected and maintained
Use what you learned to help others in the organisation or in the industry
Baute, now 36, became the go-to person to answer questions and soothe the
nerves of consternated staff. The news, she said, had come as a blow,
particularly as the executive responsible for orchestrating the decision flew
into town, announced the department s move, and then promptly caught a plane
back to his own office.
"I found it hard to face angry people, she said. I could feel what they were
going through, but at the same time I felt it was my duty to be there. That
sense of duty was stronger, and that took over, Baute said. Just two of her
team made the move to Switzerland.
These days, Baute works as an executive coach and managing partner of
Confidant, a consultancy for leadership and organisational development in
Brussels. Looking back, she said, "When you don't have all the answers to the
questions, taking responsibility means being there and facing up to that that
makes a big difference in how people feel."
Why shirk responsibilities?
Experts say it's a cowardly act to avoid responsibility and blame others or
outside events for unfavourable circumstances.
Angela Negro, a life and leadership coach, said, At some stage, we have all
felt like absolving ourselves of responsibility, especially if we stand to lose
face, favour, standing or will incur someone's wrath. Kids do it all the time.
'It wasn't me, it was her! She made me do it!'.
(Credit: Alamy)
(Credit: Alamy)
The key word in Negro's analysis is "lose", which circles back to the fear of
being faulted. When we are at fault, we face disconnection, rejection or
exposure of a particular incompetence or weakness.
Indeed, it s easy to point the finger since we have an innate human need to be
right. Some are be masters of the tactic, whether a colleague, sibling or
partner. For any question that might lead to fault-finding, the respondent is
primed to insist that something was not her fault because it wasn t her
responsibility in the first place.
In corporations, the blame game is "quite prevalent" and "quite destructive"
for the company culture and performance, said John Almandoz, a professor who
lectures on managing people in organisations at IESE Business School in New
York and Barcelona.
Acknowledging that some degree of failure is acceptable and even important
is one way to move ahead. Just ask innovation experts, who accept and even want
failure as part of the product development process because there is something
to be learned.
"Empowered and optimistic leaders remain firm in their values, have the
humility and the courage to admit when they've made a mistake without blaming
others, and seek to make amends or learn from their failure, Negro said.
Your piece of the pie
The tendency to shift responsibility to someone or something else at work may
stem from a lack of shared mission, some experts say. Feeling responsible is
often directly linked to employee engagement.
"Company missions are effective to the degree that people are motivated and
want to contribute to the company's mission, said Almandoz. If they believe
in the mission and share it, they feel ashamed and embarrassed if they're not
contributing if others in their team think less of them because they're not
doing their work well."
Another way to boost responsibility is to make sure employees understand the
importance of their contribution. Staff members should understand what they do
as part of the whole, Almandoz said. On the factory line, for example, a worker
who is responsible for creating an entire car part as opposed to one who is
responsible for welding multiple parts identifies with that part and how it
makes the car drive.
"Knowing your contribution ultimately creates a culture in the organisation
where everybody feels responsible, Almandoz said. People are not blaming each
other when things go bad."
​Doing the right thing
Fessing up to mistakes is also crucial, said Marie-Anne Reynell, the director
of development at the School of Education and Psychology at the University of
Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
While working at another European university nine years ago, she took the blame
for an error her supervisor had made, even though Reynell had brought it to the
supervisor s attention that a calculation was incorrect.
"As I expected, what we had done was wrong, Reynell said. I was a minor
person in the team. My superior, who should have been there when the auditors
arrived, didn't turn up on the day and made me responsible for the mistake. She
basically made out that I was a beginner and a newcomer, and it was my fault."
Reynell assumed the mistake in front of the auditors and defended the project
as best she could. "I never forgot that," she said. Since she took
responsibility for the calculation mistake, the auditors had been lenient. A
few months later, her supervisor was moved to a different department and
demoted, while Reynell was promoted.
After her boss failed to take responsibility for the mistake, Reynell vowed
always to do so herself. "If you take responsibility, your team will, too. The
team has to trust you," she said.
Doing the right thing comes with psychological pay-offs, too. "Taking
responsibility means being part of something bigger than yourself. You act in
the interest of the organisation, Baute said. You're part of a bigger group.