Great Leaders Don't Play The Blame Game

Watching a Sunday morning news program today, I heard an expression that took me back to my days as Agile Manager. The comment was made in relation to the current economic woes facing the U.S. (and the rest of the world) and was in response to the question of whose policies really caused it. The answer given was, "There's plenty of blame to go around!"

I don't dispute the factual veracity of that assessment, as it's almost certain that multiple parties failed in various ways to carry out the responsibilities of their positions. It wasn't just the banks that screwed up, or the legislators, or the people who are supposed to enforce the rules, or even the people borrowing more money than they should have. It took all of that misbehaviour and more to bring the world economy to this point.

At my last job, the same thing was true. We didn't typically experience failures, whether large or small, because of just one person somewhere dropping a single ball. Instead, it was usually a more widespread problem, involving roles like Vice President, Project Manager, Product Manager, Product Development Leader and Product Development Team member. I honestly don't believe that any of us in those types of positions were "without sin" and therefore free and clear from accepting a share of the blame for how things went.

However... Where I didn't always see eye-to-eye with some of my peers and superiors on the topic of the Blame Game was in the relative weight that should be borne across the players. Rightly or wrongly, I've always operated under the assumption that management needs to be held to a higher bar. I felt that way before I joined the management ranks, and I've continued to subscribe to it since then, as well. One small indication that perhaps I'm not so out there in my thinking comes in the area of the law. As anyone who's been a manager knows, you only get that title with the accompanying caveat of a greater legal responsibility (and liability) should something go wrong within your work environment. For example, managers who allow a poisoned work environment to form around them, regardless of whether they actually contributed to it or even condoned it, can be held every bit as accountable for what happens within it (sexual harassment, violence, racism, etc) as the perpetrators of those acts. That's a very high standard, and it can be quite intimidating to learn that you're suddenly in that position upon promotion. Talk about a "good news, bad news" scenario!

But it works that way because the bar is higher. Pay scales are generally elevated, you're going to influence more people simply by virtue of your title and position, and expectations around your behaviour and composure are going to be greater. Those are all part and parcel of the package that comes with moving up that rung of the organizational ladder.

With that in mind, it's apparent to me that when things go awry, it's always going to be the higher-ups who must assume the lion's share of the blame. That may be perceived by some as being every bit as "unfair" as the example above within a poisoned work space, but it's also every bit as appropriate, as far as I'm concerned. In fact, it's something of a telling trait (to me, anyway) when a person in a leadership role complains about the seeming inequity of it. The best leaders understand that it comes with the job, I think, and they don't waste time talking about how "there's plenty of blame to go around." Instead, they accept that all problems are theirs to address (directly or indirectly) and a failure by anyone below them on the org chart is still a failure on their part. It can be a bitter pill to swallow - and I say that from experience - but it's also a component of what separates great leadership from those of us who just hold the title and collect the big paycheques.

Bringing this back to U.S. politics, my take so far on Barack Obama is that he is, and will continue to be, a leader who sees the futility of the Blame Game and knows that the buck will always stop with him. I think he'll spread credit for successes around liberally (another great leadership trait), but will conversely accept the blame for the failures himself... at least, I hope that he will!