In Part 1 of this series, we were introduced to the idea of Personal Responsibility and an understanding for areas in our lives where it is best applied (everywhere). We ended with the understanding that a company cannot put full accountability measures in place in order to ensure all employees take personal responsibility for their actions, but they can make it known what they will or will not tolerate.
Companies that are accepting of deflection and avoidance of personal responsibility will generally see it running rampant. Why, because it is a learned behaviour. The interesting thing that happens when you take more than one or two people and gather them into a building is the behavioural diversity which occurs and then later melds to create a behavioural culture. Multiply that into corporate numbers of employees and your leader will have his/her hands full in order to manage the varied behaviours that will be represented. Ultimately, the top gun and their executive will be required to define the acceptable behaviour within their organization and sometimes they fail to understand the significance of this responsibility.
When allowed to run rampant, poor behaviour is not only a learned behaviour brought in from outside the organization, but also becomes a learned behaviour from within. Managers with poor behaviour, in practice, train and hone poor behaviour within their teams until it becomes the “culturally accepted” manner in which business is done within the company. The same pattern exists with companies whose management exhibits exceptional and excellent behaviour. The managers’ employees, if brought up organically through the company, then continue learned behavioural patterns from their management unless the chain is broken. Breaking the patterns involve a huge undertaking most often triggered by two key events.
- Company Leaders, starting at the top, are concerned about specific behaviour and take action to ensure they communicate the undesirable behaviours not to be tolerated and set expectations of acceptable behaviour.
- A new leader is employed by the company to shake things up and create a newly defined culture.
Both tasks challenge the very behaviours with which employees are familiar and one can expect change will not be welcomed by most. The importance of making change cannot be underscored, because managers who choose to combine poor behaviour with a lack of personal responsibility will pull attrition rates right down the pipe and this is turnover most companies can ill-afford.
Professor Robin Stuart-Kotze PhD from Behavioural Science Systems Ltd.( founded in 1972 by Dr. Stuart-Kotze) cites the following statistics in his article “Bad Behaviour Isn’t Necessary”:
“Statistics show that while 25% of people who are subjected to this type of behaviour leave their jobs, that’s not all that happens; 20% of the people who witness the behaviour also quit.”
The behaviour we are focusing on in this series is the Avoidance of Personal Responsibility. The lack of Personal Responsibility in the leadership of an organization is nothing but detrimental to the organization in performance and morale.
If you are a leader, it’s your job to put ‘accepting personal responsibility’ top of the list of appropriate behaviour within your organization. The CEO and subsequent executive must decide for themselves what kind of behaviour is acceptable and what kind is not. The job is then to begin putting performance measures into place which will inhibit the practice of those behaviours which are deemed outside of appropriate behaviour for the company. Making a well-defined change-management plan is vital, remember, measures can only go so far, the leadership of the company need to continually convey messages of what behaviour they will and will not accept.
The best way to accomplish a change toward cultural personal responsibility is;
1. Ensure all promotions and career advancement are measured specifically to lead people’s behaviour toward what the company deems acceptable.
2. Set clear expectations communicated throughout the company of what is acceptable and what behaviour is not at all tolerable.
Don’t just “talk” it, walk that talk and measure it, promote the kind of people you would be proud to have as your company representatives, release those who cannot meet company expectations and be clear you are creating a performance management system which is well-rounded – not just based on margin.
As an employee it can be devastating to work with a leader who deflects personal responsibility and worse yet, points fingers and blames others to claw their way to the top. Often within companies, poor behaviour is responded to with equally poor behaviour because it is culturally acceptable to do so. In the matter of responsibility avoidance a company becomes its own worst enemy by promoting and supporting those managers who practise it.
What does an employee do in tough times when they are lucky to have a job yet find themselves in a company where Avoidance of Personal Responsibility is running rampant?
The reality is such that if you feel you cannot affect change while in a subordinate position, what you CAN do is make a point of putting checks and balances on your own behaviour to ensure you don’t go down that same path. Make a commitment to standing firm on your own values and being the kind of leader you would be proud to follow. To start, you can look at ways you might be avoiding responsibility yourself, then you need to determine why you do it.
Dr. Robin Stuart-Kotze describes responsibility avoidance as performance blocking behaviour in his article “Dealing with Performance Blocking Behaviour – Your Own”. Performance blocking means you’re putting a block in your performance and that can definitely be career limiting.
Here is what Dr. Stuart-Kotze says about Performance Blocking Behaviours:
“…absorb valuable time and energy, slow down growth, increase costs, cause valuable people to leave, and create a climate of low commitment to achievement. Performance Blocking behaviours are in almost all cases emotional reactions to external forces – threat, frustration, stress, anxiety, uncertainty, etc.”
“The main causes of Responsibility Avoidance behaviour [within an organization] are:
· fear of failure
· fear of having one’s actions and decisions challenged
· fear of the risk of responsibility
· feeling trapped in a job one doesn’t like or want to do”
In an effort to curb performance blocking behaviour, Dr. Stuart-Kotze suggests individuals learn to recognize when they’re “feeling frustrated, anxious, nervous, threatened, powerless, helpless, slighted, unappreciated or angry” and then deal with why that emotion is stirred within them.
While it’s hard work to change personal behaviour it’s certainly not impossible. A detailed awareness of what emotion is felt and an understanding for the belief system behind that emotion will help a person determine where to start on the road to taking responsibility.
Here are a few suggestions for how to ensure you are working hard to take responsibility for your actions:
- Make of list of the items you think you may be avoiding when it comes to taking responsibility for them. (Hint: use the list of emotions Dr. Stuart-Kotze lists above)
- Better yet, Dr. Stuart-Kotze suggests you find a co-worker you trust to help you determine if you are exhibiting any performance blocking behaviour, and in this case those which lead you away from taking personal responsibility.
- Especially examine those things for which you are either blaming others or that leave you feeling victimized.
- Examine each item carefully and ask yourself, “What was my role in this one that produced the outcome realized?” Be honest with yourself about your part in getting to the undesirable outcome and keep all focus away from anyone else. Do this with each item in your list.
- Own your action. Define how you could manage it differently to reach a different or better outcome. Ignore your desire to focus on what someone else should have done, acted or said. Pay attention to what YOU could change.
Dr. Stuart-Kotze suggests that expressing your emotions in the heat of the moment is usually not helpful in the situation but putting your focus on how to improve a situation is. He notes that, “All too often, blocking behaviours are intended to delay things, to avoid facing up to things, to deny things, to project onto others what you are really feeling and doing yourself or to rationalise what you are doing”
Ideally, you want to evaluate if your reaction to certain situations inhibits your ability to deal with them appropriately or are limiting your career. Avoid lying to yourself. Avoid blame or finger pointing, and seek to find choices you can make, actions you can take and changes you can implement with a strong sense of personal responsibility. When you are ready to take action, try to ask yourself in advance if it’s an action you can live with while taking full and considered personal responsibility for it.
If you already take personal responsibility seriously and work in a company where it’s not valued by the management, it might very well drive you to frustration to stay – just make sure you don’t take a leap outside your value system! I don’t necessarily suggest you quit, but you do need to be honest with yourself. If you can’t fit your values into the values of the organization, be kind to yourself and your career then carefully build your exit plan. Have patience and stand by your values while also keeping a keen eye out for opportunities at a company where the culture does support your value system.
If you are struggling to define your career fit, Strategic Sense Inc. has a Career Directions program to help you, contact us at: info@strategicsenseinc.com for more information
Strategic Sense Inc. Specializes in working with Executives of companies who care about their people and know their business is driven by the people within their employ. Leadership, Communication, Strategy, Plans of Action.
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