In less life and death situations like Mrs Jones‘ and my wife medical choices and decisions should be arrived at by patient and doctor informing each other with the patient having the final say. I am sure we’d all agree with this, well in theory anyway, especially when debating the subject. In practice it’s often a different matter.
All too often we expect experts to take the responsibility or hope they will. It’s so much simpler. And of course then we can then hold them accountable and blame them for any of the consequences and not take any responsibility ourselves.
What’s the difference between responsibility and accountability. Hmmm. With the term responsibility, an ability to respond is implied. My wife was a keen gardener. Now she has died, it’s up to me. Right now I don’t have the ability to respond. Is this a weed or a flower, no idea. I need to develop the knowledge and skills. Developing these will give me the ability to be a gardener. There is more. I also require a willingness to act. I don’t have the willingness as yet.
Accountability is more to do with being held answerable by oneself and others for an event. A honest disclosure of all that took place enables an understanding of what led to this disaster or triumph. With full understanding, if the outcome was a good one, it can be repeated and improved upon. If it was an unfortunate event, a repeat of it can hopefully be prevented. Accountability give rise to learning and a better future.
Claiming responsibility is a claim that I have the ability, the knowledge and skills, and the willingness to respond or act. The more responsibility we take the more power we have. It requires learning and learning. Responsibility is about what a person is capable of – it’s about their present abilities. Accountability is about the past, looking back and learning from it.
Blame is to hold someone accountable and deserving of discipline. It’s not about learning. It’s not about finding what can be changed to benefit the future. It’s primarily about finding someone guilty. It may serve a need for revenge. Blame stifles and prevents accountability. Accountability leads to newness and improvement.
When someone is being held accountable there should be no fear of punishment, unless there has been negligence or malfeasance. Well! There is a couple of problems with this. One, all too often processes of accountability hide an to intention to blame and punish. And two, most of us when innocent, on hearing a police siren, immediately assume we have done something wrong. It’s a human response. Folks being held accountable need support and encouragement, if the intention is to make the world a better place.
As a retired medic I remember asking myself the following questions. Is this person blindly handing all responsibility over to me, ie the power to make important choices and decisions for them or are they taking on responsibility with me? Are they assessing me? Are they participating? What kind of person will they be if things don’t work out? Are they a blamer?
When I felt they were in charge of their choices and decisions and were being responsible, I could trust them. I felt no need to protect myself. This could lead to productive and sometimes extraordinary conversations. When that trust was not there, creative conversations were precluded.
When we take the advice of an expert, have we thought about things? Have we done any research? Are we participating? Do we understand the alternatives? Do we know why we are bestowing this ability on them? Do they deserve this? We should be accountable for our assessment of this expert and what they are telling us? The problem, we may feel we lack or actually lack the ability to make this assessment. It’s a tricky business.
One thing is for sure taking responsibility does not lead to certainty. It leads to more uncertainty and more questions. It takes us into probabilities and possibilities. If handing over responsibility gives rise to certainty, I’d say it’s an illusion. It’s when the illusion is shattered that blame arises.
A paediatric heart surgeon in a radio interview spoke of his success and then decreasing success with a new surgical procedure in infants he had invented. He and his team searched for single possible causes for this increasing failure rate. This led them nowhere. Next all players in the unit from cleaning staff up were asked to give their opinions on what could be improved upon, no matter how minor. They then set about addressing all of these. The success rate returned to the previous high level. A search for someone to blame would not have had the same result.
When we end up damaged, it’s fair enough to ask whether there was negligence or malfeasance of some kind. It’s fair enough to seek compensation and society could be more generous with regards compensation. It’s definitely fair enough to ask for accountability and transparency. But if we want these we have to drop the blame game.
I’d appreciate people’s thoughts on this?