When Leaders Engage in the Blame Game

Imagine it's your first day of work.

You are expecting what some might refer to as "syllabus day”. A day to review what the expectations are, have some basic tasks laid out, and some questions answered.

It’s supposed to be an otherwise laid-back first day. Unfortunately, nah.

Before you have time to replenish your coffee cup, you’re already somehow in the middle of a fire. (Talk about a workplace red flag.)

It’s a small organization you’re now working for, so your hiring manager is in the thick of said fire. Up to their ears in responsibilities that should be delegated elsewhere; too involved for comfort, sadly complicit.

You are quietly observing, smiling politely even, but internally overwhelmed and attempting to absorb everything.

Moments pass, and you're in an ad-hoc meeting with the owner. A charismatic man with the smallest pulse of something unnerving. In no time, he successfully throws his business partner under the bus. You’re a bit dumbfounded.

Surely he misspoke. To your horror, he continues.

You then endure a rant blaming not just the incompetencies of his current employees, but also the masterful incorporation of all the other "issues" plaguing his business due to another superior. Some things can’t be unseen.

If only this was a fictitious tale. This not only happened to someone I know personally, but as you might have guessed, the weeks following didn't get any better.

The organization was infected by an extreme lack of responsibility.

The administrator would blame the employee when there was a scheduling error. The buyer would blame the supplier when the order was wrong.

Without accountability and solution-forward thinking, the incessant blame game only resulted in more chaos.

If this sounds all too familiar, it’s safe to run.

If you are responsible for starting a business, you are responsible for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that happens within your venture.

It's a responsibility embedded as soon as you file for that LLC. You gotta take it on the chin. Every. Single. Time.

When one doesn't adopt this mindset, an endless loop of blame and spite remains. Here are some common scenarios I've seen of leaders not taking ownership.

• Something breaks in an area where they don't have direct oversight.

• A team member is making life difficult for another department. 

• The market flips and the company's product becomes irrelevant.

• The supplier raises its prices and there are no alternatives.

• They're overwhelmed and stressed, doing more work than anyone else.

I am certainly not claiming that good leaders don't slip up; the difference is that when they do, they'll own it and thusly correct it.

I am also not oblivious to the fact that things can happen where one is not directly responsible. It is still not about pointing fingers though.

If a leader feels they need to find someone to blame, then they're way off the mark. Blame doesn't translate into growth or a solution. So, what's the point?

To me, taking ownership is the best form of closure to a problem. It's the quickest path to figuring out how you can avoid it in the future, and more importantly, how you can fix it.

This can be tough to influence on your employers, but you can begin with yourself.

Within the confines of your team or department, begin expressing absolute ownership.

When one of your team members makes a mistake, state " Looks like [insert name] made an error when doing XYZ, but this ultimately falls on me. It was my responsibility when I placed them in that position to begin with. I’ll take care of it and make sure it doesn't happen again".

It may sound simple, but I dare you to set a new standard anyway.