Original article written in 2016.
We’ve all heard a politician or bureaucrat speak when something goes wrong. Do they ever take responsibility for screw-ups? No. They blame everything, and everyone, but themselves. This is partly due to the nature of politics and partly due to the media always looking to trap a politician into admitting a mistake. Ridiculous.
In my world, our team operates differently. In fact, it’s one of our company’s core values: Ownership. I expect everyone on our team to take ownership of problems. No excuses. You screwed up – own it, and fix it. You see a problem – own it, and fix it. And that’s exactly what they do. If they see a problem, they don’t ignore it. They own it and get it fixed.
Often it is me who falls short of the standard I expect of others. Often I fail in the way I communicate. I know it’s hard to believe I could communicate poorly… those who have had the pleasure of spending time with me know I was born with no filter. My point may be valid on an issue, but it sometimes gets lost in some silly rant.
A few months ago, something went wrong. I was a little bit grumpy. Ok, I was pissed off. Big time. But rather than act like the calm, mature, in-control leader… I ranted at four of my managers. Based on the way I acted, they probably thought they were employed by a child. (Please remember this took place in 2016; I’m much more mature now!) Once the dust settled, I knew I did wrong. My point was right, but my delivery sucked.
So, I did two necessary things to fix the mess I made. First, I apologized to them. Second, I bought them handbags as a gift. The next day, I had several staff come up to me and say things like, ‘Can you fight me too? I want a handbag!’ ‘Fight me, I need new shoes!’ Ugh. They are always mocking me. But my point is, I don’t hide from my own screw-ups. I owned it.
In 2017, we had a major IT failure. I’ll spare you the details, but it wasn’t a good week for us. We were in the middle of a major infrastructure upgrade, and we had ‘issues’. I called in the external consulting firm who were running the project, my operations managers, and my IT manager. I told them in no uncertain terms they had better get it fixed. FAST. And then I left them alone to do their work without bothering them.
I visited the office a few days later on the weekend to get an update on what was happening and found one of the external IT consultants asleep. My own IT team looked tired too… really tired. Turns out they hadn’t been home for several days. They had been sleeping in the office overnight while the issues were fixed. That’s ownership. The IT team screwed up, but they didn’t go home for several days until it was fixed.
I had mixed feelings about it. As an employer, I felt guilty because my team had gone to such extreme lengths to ensure our business had solid internet. But I also thought back to when I was an employee. If something this serious happened on my watch, I too would have slept in the office until it was fixed.
I have huge respect for everyone on my team. They never give me garbage excuses. They don’t blame other people. And they don’t blame circumstances. They take ownership. Sometimes it’s tough to face up and admit when you screwed up. None of us wants to be embarrassed. We don’t want to look, or feel, incompetent. But the fact is, we all screw up. Some of us (ahem… cough… ahem…) screw up more than other people. But owning your screw-ups and not making excuses is one thing that separates losers from winners.
Think about that next time you catch yourself sounding like a politician and making excuses for something going wrong on your watch. You’d be better served taking ownership and fixing it.
P.S. Ready to ditch the excuses and build an accountable team offshore? Schedule a Discovery Call with Frontline Accounting today.
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