fault vs. responsible

So here is the situation. Something has gone wrong, and we go looking to see what happened. We search a little and find out what happened. Someone messed up and it was not us. So there are two questions that we should ask ourselves.

1) Who is at fault?
2) Who is responsible?

The first one is easy whoever messed up is at fault. And there should be coaching and correction and possibly even punishment. But the second question is more tricky. Certainly the person who messed up is responsible right? And they are – but they are not the only ones. As managers and leaders we are equally responsible for the situation. A leader is responsible for everything that happens in their world.

We can point the blame to whoever earned it, but the responsibility of the mistake and making it better falls squarely on the shoulders of the leader. End of story. No way out.

That is the challenge and opportunity of the leader. It may be instinct to look elsewhere when something goes wrong and say that it is not your fault. And it may not be … but if you are the leader that does not matter. The problem is yours to fix (the challenge) and the solution is yours to own (the opportunity). And then after we fix the problem we have to always ask ourselves “What did we do to let this happen? What can I as a leader make sure to do so this never happens again?”

The famous cliché on leadership goes “When something goes right the great leader looks out the window to his people; when something goes wrong he looks into the mirror” . As a leader we may not be to blame directly but we are responsible completely. When something goes wrong we can accept this reality and create some great opportunities for growth and improvement or we can hide. And this is how you should want it. So we have this to face almost every day because things go wrong. Next time it does make sure that you look in the mirror and take the responsibility and the opportunity. It is what leaders do.