Simplifying Responsibility for Myself

I often hear the word responsibility being tossed about, sometimes carelessly, e.g. I have been given more responsibility at work! OR Whose responsibility is it to do....?

For this reason, I started to explore this word we use so often, yet it’s largely misunderstood and/or misused.

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What does responsibility mean?

Let’s make it really simple. Responsibility means your Response Ability, i.e. your OR my ability to respond to any given situation. From this alone we can see that it is not something that can be given to us. We can however be given a position that has a certain level of responsibility attached to it. How well we do in that position is dependant of how much of the responsibility we in fact, do take.

What is responsibility and how does it work?

So, we have established responsibility is something we need to take. So, let’s take an example to see how this would work. Suppose a group of campers in a forest confronted by a hungry bear; we could possibly imagine a few scenarios.

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The Runner(s):

One or two would assess the risk against their skill set, and decide they are totally unprepared for this situation and decide to leave the scene of the action. This is a totally legitimate response, but needless to say they will be teased for this response; till at some point they are able to change their response to this type of threat. Some do some don’t. But usually these live to tell the tale and to fight another day!

The freezer(s)
One or two may be completely overwhelmed that they neither run nor contribute to solving the problem, they simply freeze. In many senses, they become a danger to themselves and the group, because they neither run nor have the ability to protect themselves.

The Brave Heros

These are the ones that take the responsibility to protect the group members but fail to achieve this. They are wounded or even killed by the bear, because of faulty equipment, under-estimating the bear, had a poor plan etc. They will have popular support from the group and long remembered for their response.

The Leader (s)

Finally, we have the cool headed guy, who pulls out a rifle and fires a few shots in the air and the bear scurries off into the forest. He had the courage, equipment and the know-how. By his actions and the results there is no doubt in the group who took the responsibility and succeeded. ( It does not however, mean that these individual(s) would necessarily respond similarly in a different challenge.)

Responsibility and Blame

I’ve also discovered that there exists an interesting relationship between responsibility and blame. Authority is transfer to those who assumes responsibility by taking blame, e.g. In the event that some goes wrong in the work environment, and the manager who acknowledges that things got out of hand and starts vigorously working to prevent a re-occurrence, is far more likely retain his / her position than one who starts to dish out blame on others for the failure. By blame we also link excuses; as excuses are simply a mechanism to deflect blame.

Not everybody is ready for responsibility

It is evident that one cannot always be ready for responsibility however, the next best thing is to have the attitude that we always preparing for future responsibility, through training, up-skilling and a courageous attitude.

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In summary:

• Responsibility = our Ability to respond.
• Responsibility is something we need to take.
• Success or Failure in a challenge is not really an issue; it’s the track record of taking responsibility that matters.
• Authority goes to those who assume responsibility by taking blame / refusing to make excuses.
• We can be deemed to be responsible by showing intent to take future responsibility.

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I trust you’ve enjoyed this read

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Wishing You - Love, Light and Peace
@whitelite