Leaders, do you want to retain your people? Do you want to be the leader everyone wants to work with?
If so, start paying attention to how you show up on the Responsibility Continuum.
The Responsibility Continuum is a scale that goes from 0% to 100%. We slide up and down that continuum every day. At any moment, we might take full responsibility (100%) or very little responsibility (15%) for our decisions and actions.
And failing to take responsibility impacts us as leaders.
Let’s say a bank manager just hired an assistant manager. On the first day, the bank manager says, “You’ve been in banking a while, so you know how things work. I have a really busy day, and the bank president asked me to deposit this check by the close of business. Can you take care of it for me?”
The assistant manager says, “No problem, I got it!”
At 4pm, the bank manager gets a call from the bank president, who is furious. “The check hasn’t been deposited yet!” he fumes.
The bank manager apologizes. “I take full responsibility. I know it needed to be deposited today. Let me find out what happened and get back to you.”
The manager walks over to his assistant manager’s desk and asks, “What happened with the check? I told you it needed to be deposited today!”
“I just deposited it a few minutes ago!” she responds.
“But checks need to be deposited by 2:30pm to be counted for today. I thought you knew that!”
“I’m so sorry,” she says. “It’s my first day, and I messed up!”
“Don’t worry about it,” the bank manager says. “It is my fault. I should have confirmed with you what time the check needed to be deposited.”
We all want to work for the leader who takes responsibility. Not the one who throws us under the bus, or the one who says, “It’s mostly your fault, but it’s also my fault.”
Take as much responsibility as you can take at all times.
This is hard, but you’ll be a better leader for it.
#LeadershipStrategies #GTNCoach
Financial Center Manager at Bank of America
1wTony… this is awesome!! Great way to show your appreciation for your Team.