Responsibility vs. Accountability: A very short comparison.
Posted on October 15, 2021 by Tom Moore, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
A short comparison of responsibility and accountability.
When coaching leaders, I often find they speak of accountability and responsibility as synonymous and interchangeable. For example, “I want the employees to be more accountable” or “I wish they were more responsible.” I typically get their meaning; however, the two concepts are distinctly different. And I think it is important to understand the differences, especially since these same two words are often used as a prelude to blame.
What is responsibility in the workplace?
Responsibility is one’s duty to respond to assigned tasks appropriately. We typically think of responsibility as an individual characteristic; however, it can be shared—multiple people can be responsible for achieving a specific outcome by working on the same task or having different tasks responsible for that lead to the same goal. An important aspect of responsibility is that it is task-focused and technically cannot be assigned to someone. Instead, a person must choose to take responsibility for a task. Another important aspect is for a person or group to be responsible for a task; they must be competent and within their power and control.
What is accountability in the workplace?
Accountability is not task-focused but result-focused. Whereas responsibility is an ongoing duty to complete the task, accountability happens after completing it. To be accountable, one is obligated to and answerable for the results of one’s or others’ actions. Technically accountability is one’s ability to “account” for a result and the events and tasks creating it. Accountability isn’t usually shared. I say “usually” because, in some instances, I’ve seen organizations and leaders assign accountability for a result to more than one person. However, I’ve yet to see this as effective. When more than one person is accountable for the result, there is a high risk that each person will think the others are taking charge, leading to no one being accountable. Being accountable often means that the person is likely to face the consequences from some authority if the result does not meet expectations. Note there are also legal definitions for accountability. I am in no way addressing those.
What does this mean for a leader?
Can a person be responsible and not accountable or the opposite? Can a person be both responsible and accountable? Absolutely. For example, a project manager for a building project may be considered more accountable than responsible as the leader overseeing a group of processes or tasks. In contrast, every individual on a work crew may be held responsible for completing a small fraction of the larger project. In this scenario, a worker or workers were responsible for building a set of stairs and ensuring their safety. If the workers neglect their responsibilities to this project, they could be accountable for the consequences.
Responsibility
When holding someone responsible, they must accept the responsibility and have the skills, knowledge, ability, and resources required to meet your expectations. Just know what your expectations are is a challenge. According to one Gallup survey, only about half of those surveyed understand what is expected at work. Additionally, the assignee must realize the significance of the task and your expectations for its completion. For example, even if working alone, others may rely on them to do their job well and in a timely fashion. In failing to achieve what’s expected of them, they’re potentially creating issues for others.
Accountability
Accountability can be the backbone of responsibility by ensuring clarity about who is accountable for the results and, to some extent, the consequences of achieving or not the desired results. If not held accountable, one person’s delay becomes the team’s delay—a shortfall snowballs into more significant misses. Tolerating missed deadlines, lack of punctuality, and unfinished work tends to enable these and-like behaviors. As a result, your team suffers, and ultimately your workplace culture suffers. To be clear here, as a leader, while you may assign accountability at the local level, you are ultimately accountable for your team’s performance. So it will not do to throw your direct reports under the bus when you’re getting heat from your boss.
