Does your organisation suffer from a blame culture? Everyone passing the buck?

The sort of thing you hear people saying is:

"It's not my fault, I asked them to...", or "My boss should have...", or "The customer must have made a mistake...", or "Why tell me? It's them you need to talk to...", or "I told them, but they just don't listen...", or "It's not me asking you to do it...it's senior management..."

It's like a game of volleyball played on a hot beach. Everyone is jumping around trying to keep the ball in the air so it doesn't drop on their side. No one wants to carry the can or take responsibility.

Taking responsibility can be tough - especially for people new to the management game - the first line manager or supervisor. It's hard to be thrust from being "one of the boys (or girls)" into a position of being responsible for the performance of the whole team. It's hard to start giving orders to people who were - up until last week -your team mates. It can be especially hard if you don't agree with the order or decision, or if you're worried it's going to be unpopular or put pressure on your team.

The Big Mistake I made

When I was promoted to manager of the Birmingham office of a national recruitment company, I wanted people to like me. But I would sometimes have to pass on unpopular instructions and decisions from Head Office in London. The mistake I made was that, in an effort to be liked, I would say "Listen team, it's not me asking you to do this...it's Head Office in London. I agree with you...they're being unreasonable!"

So what would happen? Did they continue to like me? They certainly weren't very cooperative. They saw me simply as a "messenger boy", spouting edicts from management, a group that they didn't see me as part of. They would say things like "Why don't they come up here to Birmingham and tell us themselves?"

What I was doing was not earning me the respect of my team - and I soon got to learn that being liked or not was not the major issue. I learned that, if I wanted to get the respect of my team, I would have to take responsibility - up and down the line.

With the help of some training and one-to-one coaching, I learned to avoid saying things like "Head Office needs this done by Friday" (passing the responsibility up the line). Instead, I would say "I need this done by Friday" and offer all necessary support to the team to make that happen. The team began to see me as part of management, and I gained their respect and cooperation.

So what do you have to do?

When you're talking with your team, don't blame your boss. And if you want to get the respect of your boss, don't blame your team. It's all about "carrying the can". And that can be one of the most difficult challenges, not only for new managers and supervisors, but experienced ones too.

If you want your managers to take responsibility, you'll need to build a cultural climate that supports that. They need to know that although performance is vitally important, it's okay to make a mistake sometimes - a slip up won't result in the sky caving in.

Click here to find out how several of our clients have moved from a blame culture to one in which managers take responsibility up and down the line.