Responsibility vs. Accountability

Conventional Wisdom and Why It's Not Useful

If you dig deep into the many articles published on the topic of "Responsibility vs. Accountability" to see if there's any knowledge to be gained, you'll be disappointed.

The most common proposition is that taking responsibility means you are expected to see that tasks are done, while accountability represents a higher and more conscientious mode of responsibility. Responsibility is about the things you must do; accountability is about your personal obligations, they say. Responsibility can be delegated, but accountability cannot. But what's the point of knowing that? What is called accountability here is simply part of being responsible. If you don't feel personally obligated to complete tasks you're responsible for, who should count on you?

Another slew of writers describe accountability as a set of leadership skills, such as getting feedback, communicating, taking initiative, building trust, managing risk, etc. It fits with the idea accountability can't be delegated, but all those are traits you should already apply to be successful as a responsible worker or leader, so it doesn't explain the difference between responsibility and accountability. In the end, you'll have met your responsibility. And as the authors go on and on about all these traits, the articles supposedly about the distinction between responsibility and accountability turn into essays on leadership skills. They exhort you to encourage a "spirit of accountability" in your organization, but that isn't even a definition.

Some look at it in a totally different manner, explicitly referencing the first definition of account: accountability means providing explanations, while being responsible just means doing it and not having to provide explanations. One article even plainly said you can be responsible for some tasks but not be expected to explain what happened if something goes wrong. Is that a smart way to run a business? To mentor your employees?

Another says accountability means "accepting the consequences of what happened, and making changes". It's focused on "results as opposed to tasks". That sounds quite noble, but how do you take responsibility for tasks if you wouldn't accept the consequences and fix them if they're wrong? If you don't do that, you didn't meet your responsibility! Again, these are actions of a responsible person, not something distinct from responsibility.

Another set of authors say that in a hierarchy, the one individual responsible for a team should be called accountable for that team's purpose. He can delegate all of his responsibility, and then being accountable means he validates and signs off on the team's final work product. But, again, so what? That's being responsible for the whole team and their work.

To explain further, when you delegate, you're still responsible for every single task getting done and done right. If your delegates don't get it done, then it's on you to delegate to someone else or, in extreme cases, do it yourself. The idea that you're not responsible for the tasks if you delegate, and can just sit there and sign off on the final work (or explain what went wrong) implies you don't need to know how to manage tasks that are outside your immediate control. Yet a good manager must understand this. When you delegate, you must still plan ahead and monitor progress, not just wait for the results and hope for the best.

Here are some more bad takes. These are direct quotes from articles supposedly about the differences between responsibility and accountability:

• When we're accountable, we take responsibility for our actions.
• True accountability means that you not only accept responsibility and own it, but are answerable for the outcome of your actions.

There's more. One author claimed responsibility is imposed on you, and is about things; accountability is accepted and is about your obligations to people, and it cannot be delegated. Another author said accountability is imposed and responsibility is assumed—the opposite! So now what? Who's right?

How about this gem: "We can only choose to take responsibility for something. No one else can assign responsibility to us." This writer must still live with his parents and has never held a job.

Many blog-posters give examples supposedly demonstrating responsibility and accountability in a given scenario; but you could swap the words and it's all the same.

An almost useful example was this, though: You're responsible for estimates in a project, and realize they are wrong just as the execution phase is about to kick off. The presenting author advised that being accountable for your mistakes means you tell your manager so the project can be delayed if needed while the estimates are fixed, as opposed to saying nothing and hoping for the best. This hints at the personal obligation aspect of accountability, referenced above. But why does that need the "accountable" label? It doesn't. You're taking responsibility for getting the estimates right, because you'll get fired if you don't! And not saying something would be deeply irresponsible.

"Responsibility is ownership, accountability is measurement," another writer says. "Responsibility is commitment to the goal; accountability is seeing through the steps it takes to honor the agreement." It's like they all define accountability as doing your job. It's not helpful.

"Responsibility is a more fluid concept" than accountability. "Responsibility is essentially..." Vague definitions are a waste of time!

One essayist said he will explain how to "strike a balance between" the two concepts. There's no balance. They should be defined in a distinguishable manner, or they're the same concept.

Finally, an author stated that accountability is "drive and honesty, a strong leader, understands outcomes of a situation, thoroughly understands the concept." This implies that being responsible means having only a superficial obligation, or not really thinking about what you're doing. In reality, it doesn't matter how simple a task is, you should apply yourself completely to getting it done right. Look left and right, up and down, to see where your tasks fit in to the bigger picture so you can make adjustments where situations demand. That's not separate from responsibility; that's being a competent and conscientious worker. These lame definitions that responsibility alone (without accountability) is something facile is what enables poor work—people just doing the task and not seeing it through. You should expect what they call accountability from everyone responsible, and call it part of their responsibility. Or, if you must add a label to the separate concept of doing your work conscientiously, then say everyone is both responsible and accountable for their work, and understand that using two words with overlapping definitions isn't ideal, and will never help drive decisions, as our definitions do, as we'll explain in the next section.