“Responsibility” and “Accountability.”
“Responsibility” and “Accountability.”
We hear and use the words interchangeably, unaware that there may be subtle differences between them.
When Tosan approaches our work with clients it is to invoke specific meaning of the word accountability as this aids them in understanding how to coach employees while establishing ground rules for delegating and producing tasks. Tosan distinguishes meaning between responsibility and accountability in the following way:
Responsibility can be seen as A being given a task to perform by B. A accepts the task, making an often unspoken agreement to provide their best work to accomplish a given set of outcomes and goals by B.
Accountability has the same definition with one important addition:
Accountability can be seen as A being given a task to perform by B. A accepts the task, agreeing to provide their best work to accomplish outcomes and goals by B, while also taking responsibility for the results, whether good or bad.
The difference between these two words as they relate to our meaning is focused on the expectation set forth by “A” in delegating a task and the reasonable results that the “B” is to produce and be held accountable for.
One must take responsibility not just for completing our role in a task, but also for the results of that task. In this way, personal development has greater effect in that people can not only see how their efforts make an impact (both good and bad), but they are given the opportunity to participate in the full process of task accountability; from delegation and expectation to development, through feedback and finally to the ownership of results. This helps clear the path of obstacles for those involved to more accurately assess what was successful in order to repeat it and what was unsuccessful so as to identify and mitigate the same pitfalls next time.
Additionally, problems can be more quickly assessed because the “blame game” is diminished, and it allows for managers to more accurately offer feedback from both successes and failures. True accountability leads to greater empowerment and engagement by the employee because the employee is now asked to provide the follow through on their tasks. Setting the expectation that individuals are responsible not just for delivery of a task, but the consequences of their deliverables will aide them to do more accurate and more solid work, especially if they know that at the end of the day, their name is on the report being given to clients, board members, team leaders and colleagues.
Whereas, the verbiage between these two words may be inconsequential in our modern day interactions, we ask that all of you reading this post take into consideration that in order to hold true accountability, as members of an organization, we all need to better practice moving responsibility to the higher, better place of accountability.
