by John D Carmack

Created on: February 20, 2009   Last Updated: February 28, 2009

"The Army defines leadership as influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization" (AR 600-100, p1). The key is to be able to influence someone to do something. Something else the Army teaches is that you can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility. When a subordinate does something wrong, you were expected to go into the First Sergeant's (if you were lucky) office with that person. You, as a leader, were expected to take some sort of remedial measures to help ensure it did not happen again.

Does that mean, however, that you as a leader were supposed to take the blame for something someone else does? Let's phrase it another way: Is a leader supposed to take all of the credit for what their team does? The answer should obviously be "No". As you will see, though, this does not empower the leader to play the "blame game".

Taking responsibility means being accountable for your actions. Likewise, a good leader will hold those on his or her team accountable for their actions. A good leader will recognize when someone falls short and it is their fault or the subordinate's fault. A good leader provides recognition for those who shine and do not cover up for those who do not. A good leader is not doing anyone any favors by covering up for someone who is not fulfilling their role. The company suffers, the team suffers and even that individual suffers as a result. Yet, there are ways to hold people accountable and still be discreet.

A good leader always asks questions. Did you as a leader take preventative measures so that this situation would not occur? Did you as a leader assess risk and take the necessary steps to mitigate that risk? Did you as a leader ensure that proper training and communication processes were in place to avoid similar situations? Were the methods employed sufficient to avoid problems if everyone was doing their job? If the answer is "No", then you as a leader have to be willing to shoulder some or all of the blame.

In either case, you as a leader have to be willing to take remedial steps to fix the problem, or you will be responsible for the problem if it occurs again. A good leader will do what they reasonably can in order to assist a person to meet expectations. This is not about the "blame game". Rather, it is about raising the performance level of the person and the team.

Let's take the example of John. He is a new employee that reports to

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