The #1 reason responsibility fails

You may not know this, but I do a lot of leadership coaching for businesses and sports teams. Some of it is executive coaching for CEOs, head coaches, and athletic directors. Some of it is training for leaders, frontline producers, staff, and players.

Regardless of the environment, every leader wants the same thing: people who take responsibility.

It's a basic expectation. A simple ask. But responsibility remains inconsistent and unevenly adopted in companies, on teams, even in families.

Part of the reason is due to human nature. At no point in history has responsibility been something humans do naturally well. Individual people might do it well. People as a whole generally do not.

But the other reason responsibility is inconsistent, the bigger reason, is because of a leadership or relationship mistake.

People confuse the assignment of a responsibility with the acceptance of a responsibility. They're not the same thing. Not even close.

No matter what responsibilities you assign, they don't belong to someone else until that person accepts those responsibilities. If you assign a responsibility but don't check or confirm whether the other person accepts that responsibility, you create a responsibility leak.

In leadership or any relationship, don't assume ownership has transferred just because you assigned it. Responsibility assigned does not mean responsibility accepted.

Responsibility starts when it's accepted, not when it's assigned. Don't let unconfirmed ownership quietly create responsibility leaks.

Confirm ownership before you count on it.

Make the leap. Do the work.