When something went wrong, who’s responsible?

One could think that it’s the person who made the error.

One could also think that it’s the person who delegated the task.

And maybe it’s the team who didn’t see that the person who made the error was struggling or unaware of something they all knew.

One can follow that route. But why? Just to have someone to blame?

It created a “runaway culture” of people leaving their jobs because of something considered a problem.

A different route is to learn together from the fact that something went wrong. How could the team, including the leader, have done a better job? Was it even possible to do a better job? What does this situation tell about the way they work together?

And if the person experiencing a problem was an external stakeholder, what’s the responsibility then? Does it help to teach the person how to deal with the situation? Or is the person simply in need of a different service, the one the company or team stands for?

Determining one’s responsibility is also a question of perception.

It doesn’t mean to accept “everything”.