Responsibility & Accountability
What’s the difference?
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it”
Responsibility and accountability are two words that appear often when talking about behaviour. The distinction between the two is subtle, and yet understanding both concepts and applying them to our lives can have a transformative impact.
So what is the distinction?
If we start with responsibility, it’s a word that often can have a heaviness attached to it. When we are responsible for something, many of us feel under pressure; “It’s all on me” “I’ll get the blame if this goes wrong.” Older siblings can sometimes experience a sense of anxiety when a younger sibling is born, who they feel responsible for. This pejorative take on the word sometimes leads to avoiding or shirking responsibility, so that we can stay safe from blame.
Another way of looking at responsibility however is to think about it in terms of ownership. When we take (or are given) responsibility, it gives us purpose. The same consequences that drive a fear of responsibility give us power; there are consequences to us following through on our responsibilities, which means our actions have a clearly defined impact. Many who struggled through the pandemic with a sense of purposelessness and powerlessness turned to even small responsibilities like watering a plant every day to find that feeling of power and ownership.
Becoming comfortable with responsibility can be a very powerful growth experience, and it’s within our grasp. Simply taking responsibility or accepting it wholeheartedly allows us to take ownership of our lives, starting with simple everyday tasks like scheduling a meeting or making a phone call and growing that practice over time.
What about accountability?
Accountability essentially means that “the buck stops here.” When you are accountable, it means that you are responsible for delivering something to someone. For example, in a sales role you may be expected to make 10 sales per week - that’s a promise you make to deliver something, that you will be held accountable for. There is someone else involved in that promise that will hold you accountable for delivering on it.
There are many instances of people who are accountable but not responsible. For example, if a house is built with insufficient materials, the people who worked onsite will be held accountable for the result that they have produced. But they may well point out that they’re not responsible for what they produced, because their employer set them up with substandard materials to do the job. In this way, accountability can be quite straightforward, but responsibility frustratingly less so.
This is a phenomenon that can be observed time and again: “Yes, that was me, but it’s not my fault…” One of the ways that we can break out of this way of thinking is to truly take responsibility for the things that are ours. To accept the risks and rewards of consequences by stepping forwards and saying “Yes, I am responsible for that, and you can hold me accountable for it.”
Try taking responsibility for something this week, and see what happens.
