Leadership Accountability | Managers, Own Up To It When You Fail!

As a leader, you’re expected to take responsibility not only for your own actions, but also for the outcomes of your organization. Do you hesitate to personally own up to it when your business falters? In this video, I talk about leadership accountability. I urge you to avoid accepting all the praise when things go right, and I advocate owning up to your shortcomings when things go wrong.

Running a restaurant or any other business is full of ups and downs. When operations go off the rails, it seems everyone starts pointing the finger. I’ve seen plenty of restaurant managers who are too quick to play the blame game. Instead of assuming leadership accountability, they pass blame and judgment onto their employees.

When your business hits a rough patch – when it loses or fails in some way – chances are that it’s the result of a leadership mistake on your part, so own up to it. Don’t blame your team for the problems you face. After all, you’re in charge. If you’re an effective manager, your team has been following your direction. Accept responsibility for your own failings as a leader.

Think about it this way: In sports, the responsibility for the performance of a team rests with the coach. When a team loses, the coach gets blamed (and sometimes even replaced). When a team wins, a good coach graciously shares credit for the win with the team. 

Leadership accountability is about doing everything you can to help your team succeed and recognizing that whether you win or lose, responsibility lies largely with you. When results are poor, own up to it yourself. When outcomes are favorable, enjoy the praise along with your team.

Carrie is a frequent keynote speaker on HR and leadership topics and regularly conducts employee training and leadership development workshops as well. She is the author of the recently published book, Restaurant Operator's HR Playbook: Your Hands-On Playbook for Finding, Hiring, and Developing Leaders and Implementing Organized People Systems and has been featured in Entrepreneur, Restaurant News, Pizza Today and Independent Restaurateur.