Taking responsibility (1)

Organisations place a lot of premium on the successful discharge of their employees’ roles and responsibility. Once they have defined the role, which is the basis of acceptance to work and earn an agreed wage by the employee, employers leave the burden of discharge of responsibilities to the employee. The defined role, which is simply the position occupied by an employee comes along with power and authority. This is the basis on which decisions are made and evaluated. When people occupy a position they are expected to take actions and actions produce results, which can be positive or negative. When people succeed, they don’t have to be persuaded to take responsibility. They do more than that they want to be recognised and perhaps rewarded. But when results are negative or when the burden of a job is huge, people shy away from taking responsibility.

If a country or an organisation is not working, it may just be down to people not executing or taking responsibility. Sometimes, I wonder who has responsibility for fixing Nigeria. Don’t tell me it’s all of us because such answers beg the question. Once roles are defined, people should be held against the accountabilities attached to their offices and positions. That’s what excellence is about. This is not to suggest that we all do not have a role to play in nation building. Rather, it helps to align roles to responsibilities.

At the celebration of the official birthday of her majesty, the Queen of England in Lagos last Tuesday, I was excited to hear Mr. Bob Dewar, the UK high commissioner to Nigeria say that he had met many Nigerians, who were champions of professionalism and business ethics. In an address in which he lamented the wasted years of Nigeria and the prevalent culture of corruption, I also heard him talk about how criminal counterfeiting kill small businesses that operate properly and with integrity. He went ahead to recommend the need to build standards, which embody integrity and compliance with values. He was simply saying that a nation couldn’t develop if people do not assume responsibility for it’s development.

To be responsible is to be accountable or answerable for a cause. It is the obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion. It has no room for abandonement, for that is simply failure. You know that the abandoned project syndrome is part of the Nigerian life and that is clear evidence that people in public offices only take pride in the status of their office and fail to assume the responsibilities attached thereto. They are not responsible people because responsible people do what needs to be done, fulfill their obligations, are accountable for their actions, use good judgment, and don’t let people down. But so often, we are let down by our leaders.

Quite often, people see responsibility as a heavy burden. It could be. However, it’s more positive to see it as a great source of personal power; as the key to taking charge of our lives and as a unique opportunity to influence the lives of others. Studies have shown that each individual has substantial or total responsibility for the events and circumstances that befall them in their life. We all play a role in shaping our experiences, even though, this is done at various degrees, ranging from partial to total. Situations may arise in which we have not been sufficiently empowered to act, such that we cannot control such situations, but we can at least control our attitudes toward them. At some other times, we mentally accept control and power over situations, but simply refuse to act.

There are two important points to stress in discussing the subject of responsibility. The first is that the individual person is the ultimate indivisible quantum in the exercise of responsibility. Therefore, we talk about Personal Responsibility. The second point is that responsibility is an opportunity, which should be taken, seized or appropriated. A famous writer summarized what it means to take personal responsibility as including the following:
• Acknowledging that you are solelyresponsible for the choices in your life.
• Accepting that you are responsible for what you choose to feel or think.
• Accepting that you choose the direction for your life.
• Accepting that you cannot blame others for the choices you have made.
• Tearing down the mask of defense or rationale for why others are responsible for who you are, what has happened to you, and what you are bound to become.
• The rational belief that you are responsible for determining who your are, and how your choices affect your life.
• Pointing the finger of responsibility back to yourself and away from others when you are discussing the consequences of your actions.
• Realizing that you determine your feelings about any events or actions addressed to you, no matter how negative they seem.
• Recognizing that you are your best cheerleader; it is not reasonable or healthy for you to depend on others to make you feel good about yourself.
• Recognizing that as you enter adulthood and maturity, you determine how your self-esteem will develop.
• Not feeling sorry for the mistakes you have been handed but taking hold of your life and giving it direction and reason.
• Protecting and nurturing your health and emotional well being.
• Taking preventive health oriented steps of structuring your life with time management, stress management, confronting fears, and burnout prevention.
• Taking an honest inventory of your strengths, abilities, talents, virtues, and positive points.
•Developing positive, self-affirming, self-talk scripts to enhance your personal development and growth.
• Letting go of blame and anger toward those in your past who did the best they could, given the limitations of their knowledge, background, and awareness.
• Working out anger, hostility, pessimism, and depression over past hurts, pains, abuse, mistreatment, and misdirection.