Fostering Responsibility: Becoming a Great Leader #4

One of the challenges faced by great leaders is coaching others into accepting responsibility for their own actions and behavior. We all make mistakes. In order to grow from those mistakes we must be able to accept ownership of the mistake.

There is a good metaphor about a storm that looks at responsibility.

A person’s behaviors and actions are a storm. At the edge of a storm you can’t really tell what the overall impact will be. If we detach our emotions we can learn by watch the precipitating factors of the “storm” as it approaches. We can watch it’s impact as it overtakes us. Then we can turn and learn even more about its residual effect as it passes away from us.

Here are a few of the common problems you may encounter with those who need growth in the area of accepting responsibility.

• They often make excuses for their behavior.
• They have a tendency to blame others for their misfortune.
• They may not follow through with assigned tasks.

Here are a few coaching suggestions.

• Recognize and reinforce ownership and acceptance of responsibility.
• Provide opportunities for success.
• Do not accept excuses in the place of responsibility.
• Be alert for signs of need.
• Make instructions and expectations clear.
• Reinforce cooperation rather than competition within your organization.
• Structure responsibilities in a manner that reduces the opportunity to blame others.
• Make the consequences for irresponsible behavior clearly and immediately known.
• Seek group input on organizational planning and decision making.
• Encourage the use of graphic organizers to measure project success.
• Speak with the individual to emphasize the importance of the one to the whole.

Previous posts in the series:

• Reining in Rule Breakers: Becoming a Great Leader #3
• Motivating Others: Becoming a Great Leader #2
• Becoming a Great Leader

Reg Adkins writes on behavior and the human experience at (elementaltruths.blogspot.com).