The Cranky Middle Manager #145 Responsibility Redefined with Christopher Avery
Cranky Middle Manager Wayne Turmel talks to Christopher Avery, author of “Teamwork is an Individual Skill” and the “Responsibility Redefined” blog. What’s the difference between accountability and responsibility? Find out. A little responsibility could have changed the outcome of the American Revolution too…..
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to Episode 145. Today we’re talking responsibility with Dr. Christopher Avery, author of Teamwork is an Individual Skill and The Responsibility Redefined blog. We also talk about George Germaine, Viscount of Sackville, who basically redefined NOT taking responsibility. A little accountability could have kept the United States a colony where it belongs
2:40 The quote of the week is from Thomas Carlyle- are you the architect of your circumstances? Would it stand up to inspection?
3:00 Welcome Christopher Avery…we get off to a rocky start but he’s free, powerful and at choice so what does my reaction matter? We hear all the time that we have all of the responsibility and none of the authority… no sympathy from Christopher. First, we need to define (or redefine) responsibility. We own the ability to make our own choices.
6:03 How do you take responsibility in a team when you can only control yourself? It’s about a shared responsibility and that doesn’t happen by accident. We also discuss the difference between accountability and responsibility. One is external and one is internal.
12:00 The most successful team builders’ sense of responsibility is more than they are held accountable for. Every member has to take responsibility for the outcomes of the team members. How do you get the other members of the team to do the same thing?
16:45 You need to have explicit conversations about more than just the metrics the team is responsible for. It’s about the people….
19:00 You can understand responsibility by looking at Christopher’s Responsibility Model. (You can get a poster of it on my website along with other Free Downloads). Here’s how we respond when things go wrong:
- Denial
- Blame
- Justify
- Shame
- Obligation
- Responsibility
Blame doesn’t help, although it does feel kinda good.
24:00 Once you get past Justify you get to Shame, where I dwell a lot. This is where managers beat themselves up. Anyone else spend a lot of time there?
25:43 A big difference between obligation (have to do it) and responsibility (want to do it). You know the difference.
Christopher’s Resources
Agile Software Development blog “Leading Answers”
He’s a big fan of audio books:
How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie
Voice of a Leader – Arthur Samuel Joseph
Don’t let the weasels get you down!
May 28th, 2008 at 2:56 am
Hi Wayne,
Thanks for spreading the news that personal responsibility is at least as much about freedom as about burden.
Here’s a some of what I wrote on my own blog today about the interview:
“I love Wayne’s own crankiness, a perfect persona to stand for and attract legions of followers (his podcast gets 25,000 downloads a month). Wait until you hear how our interview starts when he asks me how I am.
The good news is that the crankiness stands for dissatisfaction with status quo and wanting to pursue greater things, so Wayne comes around and shows that he is an ardent supporter of Responsibility Redefined”
Read the rest here here:
“http://www.christopheravery.com/blog/the-cranky-middle-manager-145-responsibility-redefined-with-christopher-avery/