Responsibility to...

This term is loved by many when it comes to decision-making, choice of supplier or worker, when “blame-storming” a project, evaluating the work of employees and so on.

I have myself witnessed on more than one occasion situations when someone has been entrusted a task for which he had barely had an idea how to complete, who had the necessary management skills and internal potential for completing the task handed to him. He had been “conferred with responsibility” and he should carry it triumphantly barely understanding with what exactly he had been entrusted. Everyone’s head is filled with ideas about how one should conduct oneself so it looks responsible without a distinct understanding of what it is in actual fact.
Examples can be found every day. If something didn’t happen for someone, the deadline expired, poor work was submitted, was rude to a colleague... what are they most likely to do? They’ll say that “it happens”, “they pushed me,” “they didn’t do this and that for me,” “and why did he behave like that?” In this context responsibility is represented as a form of duty to answer for carrying out an action or not. But what does “to answer for” mean? In my opinion the answer is a conscious evaluation of one’s capabilities and perceived choice. It’s important to replace the illusion of “responsibility for something” to responsibility to oneself.
It’s a unique look inside. At this moment a wide field of my capabilities opens up, from which I can formulate a strategy for future actions. By manipulating my capabilities alone I cannot say that someone forced me or pushed me to take one step or another, the consequences of which I would be responsible. For me this understanding is another boundary for sincerity to oneself, there’s no chance to lie to yourself or blame someone for failing.
This very principle will also work when delegating responsibility to someone else. It’s important not to simply issue a task and forget about it. In this sense everything will be subject to the will of Fate. If the person doing it turns out to be good, the task will be completed, but if not then you have to constantly interfere with a badly-working mechanism, directing and correcting its course. You have to feel this and have an intuitive feeling of a conscious choice when delegating, which exists in an understanding of your own responsibility to yourself. After this it should be enough to just follow the process from time to time without interfering in it and allowing it an opportunity to develop along its nominated path. So you can formulate the following principle of whole-hearted management. It can be regarded as the approach to carrying out tasks from the position of responsibility to yourself.

Related Posts