It’s Not My Fault!?

Be it a job we didn’t get, a performance issue in our department, or we just busted our tail on a patch of ice in the parking lot, a fairly natural inclination is to look for someone we can assign the blame to. And in many cases, we’ve even built fancy processes to guide us in doing just that; 5 Why, Root Cause Analysis, 6 Sigma just to name a few…

Oh, I know… The real intent behind each of those problem-solving tools is actually identifying breakdowns within a system in order to prevent recurrence and produce better results moving forward. But is that what typically happens? 

And this issue certainly isn’t limited to corporate cultures, the barrage of personal injury attorney commercials on the afternoon TV we play to keep our dogs from barking at every single noise in the universe drives that point home daily! Nearly everywhere we turn, something in society points a proverbial finger of blame… This has become such a common issue that this was the overview of a book I recently read:

“The lack of personal accountability is a problem that has resulted in an epidemic of blame, victim thinking, complaining, and procrastination. No organization - or individual - can successfully compete in the marketplace, achieve goals and objectives, provide outstanding service, engage in exceptional teamwork, or develop people without personal responsibility.”

But what if we could turn the tables on that blame-game and look at every scenario, good or bad, for how we can take personal responsibility for achieving the results we’re after? What if we could become extremely intentional about asking what WE could do differently in each situation to reach an even better outcome? How could doing this impact our own personal leadership journey? How would setting this kind of example help to empower the teams we lead?

Over the next several days, we’ll build on what I shared in a recent article I published on LinkedIn and work through some of the ideas present in that book, QBQ! (The Question Behind the Question), as well as some things I’ve been challenged to do personally by some of my mentors over the years. 

The results we achieve are rarely good or bad simply because of the resources we have available at the time; it nearly always ties back to what we’re willing to do with those resources… But if you’ve ever lacked access to tailored guidance for addressing issues within your team or identifying the specific action step you can take immediately once you’ve received that guidance, now may be a great time for you to check out the new 14 Day Trial offer we just rolled out for our Leading At The Next Level digital program that gives you complete access to around 60 individual lessons, each followed by a strategic assessment that challenges you to detail what you can implement immediately for a tangible return on the time you’ve invested!