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O P I N I O N
Becoming a blame-free organization Blame is a form of punishment that rarely works, and removing it from a firm’s environment will increase productivity and collaboration.
W ould you rather have an employee change her behavior, become more motivated, or make fewer mistakes, because she thinks it’s the right thing to do – or because she simply wants to avoid being blamed? Do we believe that people get up in the morning saying, “I think I’ll do a poor job today” or, “With luck, no one will like me” or, “How can I make sure that my boss and colleagues don’t trust me?” Sound ridiculous? Indeed, it is. And yet, when we lay blame, we imply that mistakes and shortcomings were purposeful.
Gerri King CONSULTANT’S CORNER
If it’s a matter of finding out who is at fault, once accomplished, the conversation usually ceases, and it results in not finding long-lasting and innovative solutions. So what’s wrong with blame? Let me tell you. ❚ If it works, it’s a short-term solution without posi- tive long-term effects. ❚ Blame often models exactly those behaviors and val- ues we’d like employees to avoid. ❚ Blame is a form of punishment and tends to create followers, not leaders, because it rarely allows for feedback. ❚ Blame may be a “last ditch” effort by desperate su- pervisors or colleagues and, thus, not a thoughtful act. ❚ Once we decide who is at fault, we stop looking for creative and systemic solutions.
❚ It doesn’t really matter who is to blame. What mat- ters is that what isn’t working gets fixed. And yet, we often resort to blame, which is a form of punishment that rarely works. It may change behavior if people care about the consequences, but is not likely to change values. Those change slowly and only when people have sufficient information and are confident that they can manage the change. Further, what should concern us most is that criticizing and blaming are forms of revenge – not a practice we should model With that as context, here are the reasons why employees don’t do what they’re supposed to do: ❚ They don’t clearly know what is expected of them. ❚ They don’t know how to do it.
See GERRI KING, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER August 15, 2016, ISSUE 1164
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