The Importance of Feeling Responsible
Posted on Oct 22, 2009 by Paul Schempp
When things go wrong, who steps forward to claim responsibility? In many cases, nobody. When in the rare cases, someone does voluntarily step forward, pay attention, for you are in the presence of a peak performer. They may not be a top performer today, but they will be in the near future.
Here is why: research on the development of expertise reveals that beginners and low performers are so focused on workplace regularities and following rules, they seldom feel any personal control over the conditions and events they encounter. They, therefore, lack a sense of responsibility for the results of their own actions. When something goes wrong, they look to outside sources as the culprit. The failure to close a contract or make a sale, as examples, often lead beginners and under-performers to attribute the failure to external factors such as a lack of support, insufficient time, too much competition, or the other party for not being interested, available, or capable. To the underperformer, he or she did everything they were suppose to do, they followed the rules and procedures, and so the reason for failure resides outside their sphere of influence. Underperformers lose no sleep over poor results because it was not their fault and they are not responsible. Consequently, they put little effort into learning from their mistakes or reworking a failed attempt into a successful conclusion.
High performers, however, think and act in just the opposite way. When something goes wrong or doesn’t meet the expert’s standards, they look first to themselves. They recognize that they have the greatest control over their own decisions and actions, and litte control over external factors. You can only change what you can control. And peak performers believe that their skills and knowledge do have a significant and definable impact on events. They, therefore, carefully scrutinize the outcomes of their actions. They do so to both avoid similar mistakes in the future and to discover ways of increasing their chances of success.
Corporate cultures that promote ‘zero tolerance’ for mistakes and reward those who avoid, cover-up or hide their mistakes are missing ripe opportunities for improvement and future success. Any productive innovator or successful entrepreneur will readily tell you that mistakes and failures are not only unavoidable, but necessary for discovering the path to sustained superior performance. So, are you feeling responsible? Well, are ya?
Resource: 5 Steps to Expert: How to go from Business Novice to Elite Performer
Tagged: responsibility, success, expertise, leadership development, management skills, improvement, learning, training, process improvement, management skills, leadership, personal development, business training, sales training