Why You Should Sometimes Take the Blame for Procurement Fails
When something goes wrong, we ask “who’s responsible?” But owning your mistake makes you accountable – an important distinction that will define your future leadership
Tony was a CPO at a major tech organisation when something went terribly – and irrevocably – wrong with the specialist software that his team had worked so hard to source for HR. It turned out that the software, which had cost tens of thousands of dollars to purchase and install, was not at all fit for purpose.
Tony was furious. He knew that HR was to blame. But HR said the executive management was to blame. Executive management said procurement was to blame. Who was really to blame? Tony wondered if he should take accountability for this procurement fail, but then again, he didn’t want to jeopardise his career in doing so…
When we’ve had good days, when things are going our way, and generally in successful times, it’s easy – and in fact, it feels great – to take personal accountability. But when things go awry?
Not so much.
All of us have a critical part to play in our organisation, so personal accountability is important. But when bad things happen that absolutely are not your fault, or when other people don’t do what is required of them, do the rules still apply? Here is why personal accountability is critical, and three important steps you can take to better develop it, ahead of our game-changing Faculty session on personal accountability with Phuel management consultant Amanda Hall.
Is there a difference between responsibility and accountability?
For all of you out there thinking of course I’m accountable – I come to work every day and do the tasks required of me, hold up for one second. There is a difference between responsibility (the tasks you do) and accountability. And it’s a big one.
A person who turns up to work every day and does what is required of them is meeting their responsibilities. An accountable person, however, does a lot more. They take ownership of results by understanding what is required to achieve them and do exactly that. Accountability, too, is acknowledging that when things don’t go so well, you may have played a part in that failure.
Here is an example of accountability versus responsibility, using the example of Tony above. Tony could very well say ‘HR told me what I needed and I went out and procured it.’ Tony, therefore, is showing that he met his responsibilities. But going that one step further and being accountable would look like Tony reflecting on the process of procuring the new software and acknowledging what his team could do better and differently.
Accountability is an important leadership quality
Accountability is different from responsibility. But why is accountability important? It’s critical in organisations because it’s a quality that all leaders need to have. Here’s why.
As you become more senior in your organisation, you will naturally swap out more and more of your individual tasks for more complex tasks. One of those tasks will be managing people, but even if you’re not doing that, pretty much anything you do will involve collaborating with multiple stakeholders. And when people are involved, accountability is key.
When the going gets tough, it’s easy to get stressed and blame any failure on your stakeholders (or your staff). But this isn’t what true leaders do. In fact, one of the most important traits of leaders is being able to say the buck stops with me. True leaders are able to be accountable for results (and failures) and effectively manage people and resources to be able to do this.
Not a leader, or not convinced this will apply to you? Beyond making you a better leader, becoming more personally accountable also has a whole host of other benefits, including promoting ownership, lessening conflict, improving performance, inspiring confidence and building trust.
How to take better personal accountability
Although personal accountability sounds great, it is, understandably, sometimes easier said than done. So if you want to improve your personal accountability, do the following:
1. Hold back your blame
As a leader in any capacity, your behaviour will naturally influence others. As a result, it’s important that before you react, you do your very best to try not to blame others. Because if you start blaming, so too will everyone around you.
Blaming can quickly become a toxic cycle. In the situation described above, when Tony blamed HR, they felt the need to defend themselves by blaming executive management. Executive management then felt the need to throw procurement under the bus. When no one takes accountability, this type of reaction quickly happens.
2. Be accountable for your part in the process
Clearly, not blaming is not enough. The antithesis of blaming is being accountable for your part in any outcome, good or bad. Acknowledging your contribution helps to stop the blame game in its tracks, but equally, and importantly, it gives you the power to overcome the issue (and hopefully influences others to do so too!).
A big part of being accountable in any given situation is to always keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to feedback. Regularly request this from those around you, whether they be stakeholders, your team or management. Incorporating feedback into anything you do will help reduce any nasty surprises, and will keep you accountable to the results expected by your wider team and stakeholders, not just those you set for yourself.
3. Fix the process
A poor leader will ask who is to blame. An exceptional leader, however, will question how the process went wrong.
Acknowledging your part in a process or series of actions that went wrong is the first step. The next step is doing your part to fix whatever the issue was.
In many situations, the issues that arise are due to an error with communication or a process or structural problem. Trying to fix these things, as opposed to trying to fix people, often results in a much more positive solution, and helps everyone take better accountability in the future.
If you want to learn how to increase your personal accountability, join Amanda Hall at 10am on March 31.
This session is for The Faculty Roundtable members only. Not a member? For more information, please contact [email protected]
