“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.”

To emphasize the importance of embracing accountability, I turn to these words of Sir Josiah Stamp from the early 1900s. He was the one-time director of the Bank of England and chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

Typically, responsibility refers to completing a specific job or task, while accountability refers to answering for the results. Here’s a more specific example to demonstrate the difference based on a production supervisor position.

Responsibility: The production supervisor is responsible for overseeing the daily operations on the production floor, managing the workforce, and ensuring that production targets are met.

Accountability: The production supervisor is accountable for safely meeting production goals, maintaining efficiency, and minimizing wastage. If the production output falls short or serious delays occur due to mismanagement, the supervisor may be held accountable.

What does responsibility and accountability look like in your organization?

Leadership Tip
Create a culture that embraces accountability to avoid the consequences of an environment that lacks accountability.

If a leader does not embrace accountability, the potential consequences could be:

• Reduced leadership credibility.
• A chaotic work environment.
• A disengaged workforce.
• Loss of job or career advancement.
• Possible lawsuits.

As French actor and playwright Moliere reminds us, “It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” Simply translated, if you do not hold people accountable for something they did or did not do, you are still accountable.

A great first step in embracing accountability is to always hold yourself accountable. Everyone will follow your lead.