In my career, some of the most interesting moments have responsibility as a critical factor. If things go well, everyone knew who was responsible for what on a project and made sure they took care of their business. Sometimes people mess but if accountability is mixed in with responsibility, problems and solutions can be quickly identified. The more tricky solutions are when the assignment of responsibility is not clearly understood by everyone. At best, two or more people fight a bit over the same role or duty. At worse, there are small, and even large, gaps in who is responsible for certain deliverables. If caught soon enough, someone can pick up the slack and complete a deliverable on time. In these situations, a bit (lot) of friction within a team can occur. People picking up the slack aren’t exactly excited to be doing so and the person who might have dropped the ball isn’t too excited about being assigned the blame for the scramble to finish.
A spinoff on this situation is when people on the team all but know someone won’t uphold their end of the bargain but have to play along for a bit because of established roles and team structures. Astute and intelligent team members identify where gaps and extra effort will be needed early on and grumpily work to make the goal happen because they want the team to succeed and because they know team success affects their reputation. As managers and leaders, we need to identify and solve these situations because this can create a situation in which one bad apple ruins the bunch. One person who regularly does not know what they are responsible for or does not carry out their responsibility can poison the team. Morale can take a huge hit, team dynamics can turn toxic and people may leave.
As leaders, it is our responsibility to make sure everyone on the team knows what they are responsible for and to hold them accountable for good and bad results. Each person on a team has a responsibility or two. What is your role and what is your responsibility?
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