- When a subordinate made a mistake, I thought more than 100 times, without exaggeration: "Huh? Wipe your own ass. You're a grown adult." A subordinate's mistake is the subordinate's fault.
- However, in terms of company structure, a subordinate's failure is the supervisor's responsibility. So, while thinking "Why do I have to apologize?", I treated it as a job, acted as if I had a sense of self-responsibility, apologized properly, and built systems to prevent recurrence... This was self-responsibility thinking filled with impurities, 0% purity.
- In contrast, I now run a corporation as a solo CEO, and I work comfortably under 100% pure self-responsibility. Whether sales don't happen, costs pile up, or the business suddenly booms, it's all my fault. Since I make all the decisions myself, there is nothing but a sense of satisfaction.
- What is the difference between impurity-laden self-responsibility and 100% pure self-responsibility? How can we face the "sense of self-responsibility" with a healthy distance so as not to break ourselves? I have summarized it into the following four steps.
Step 1: Understand the Purpose of Operating with Self-Responsibility
- To begin with, if you don't have to have a sense of self-responsibility, you don't want to. But it is said that we should have it because there are rational aspects to it.
- When I asked ChatGPT about its origins, it traced back to religions and philosophies around 500 BC. Buddha saw the cause of error as "ignorance" and showed a path to spiritual growth by correctly recognizing and reflecting rather than blaming oneself. Socrates' "Socratic ignorance," and Stoics like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, also rejected emotional self-blame while thoroughly recommending rational introspection.
- In essence, the core of self-responsibility thinking is "to reflect on one's own ignorance and improve one's actions tomorrow more than today." This is a wonderful and pleasant definition.
- However, in modern times, it has transformed into "a subordinate's mistake is the supervisor's responsibility," causing people to suffer.
Why Did Self-Responsibility Become a Suffocating Concept? (My Interpretation)
- It started with the Industrial Revolution. Taylor's "Scientific Management" in 1911 stated that "mistakes are a problem of the process, not the individual worker," and "process management is the responsibility of the manager." This established the formula: "Mistake occurrence = Process problem = Manager's problem."
- After the war, Dr. Deming's statistical quality control was imported to Japan. The teaching that "most quality problems are the responsibility of the system created by management" blended with Confucian hierarchies, Samurai "master-servant responsibility," lifelong employment, and seniority systems. An aesthetic was formed where the more a supervisor took on a subordinate's mistakes, the more respect they earned and the harmony of the group was maintained.
- The finishing blow was the self-help boom after the bubble burst. "Be proactive" from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People mixed with this aesthetic, further justifying the "self-responsible stance of taking on a subordinate's mistakes." Oh, how beautiful. No, let me correct that. It's crap; I can't stand it.
- That's why I want to return to the origins. The purpose of operating with self-responsibility is "to make your own thinking and actions better tomorrow than today." Nothing more, nothing less. Self-responsibility is not a tool for taking on unnecessary burdens and getting mentally ill. It is merely a tool for gradually improving yourself.
Step 2: Visualize the Ratio of Constants and Variables
- Constants are things you cannot control. Company strategy, product lineup, policies handed down by supervisors or management—areas beyond your power.
- Variables are things you can control. Human relationships around you, daily work flows—there should be some small area where you can apply ingenuity.
- For example, on the day you suddenly take over a team, a member hired by your predecessor makes a mistake. Even if you're told "It's your training responsibility!", you've only been there for a day, and you didn't hire them. It is completely uncontrollable.
- No matter how much effort you put into constants, it produces no results. First, identify "What is a constant? What is a variable?" regarding the event in front of you. This is the starting point.
Step 3: Separate Responsibility from Cause
- The cause is the person or factor that directly triggered the failure or mistake. Responsibility is the position or role of dealing with the mistake, taking improvement measures, and preventing recurrence. Clearly separate these two.
- As a manager, "dealing with it when the team messes up" is a responsibility. However, whether that equals "I am bad" is a completely different story. If you mix these up and take it self-deprecatingly, your mental health will suffer.
- When a subordinate makes a mistake, it's important to be detached: "I'm not the cause, the subordinate is at fault, but since it's my job to apologize, I'll apologize for now." It's healthy to just "pretend to have a sense of self-responsibility."
- On the other hand, mistakes caused by your own actions have great room for improvement, so feel the sense of self-responsibility from the bottom of your heart and strive to improve.
Step 4: Focus on Tweaking Variables
- Don't worry about constants; only worry about variables. This is the teaching of Lessons in Life from Epictetus the Slave Philosopher: identify the boundary between "what is up to us" and "what is not up to us," and focus only on things within your discretion.
- Training and guidance methods: Confirm with the person if they want strict feedback. Treat those who "don't want it" as constants who don't intend to change, and don't spend time on their training. For those who "want it," face them seriously until they give up. However, know that what you can control is "whether you face them seriously," and "whether they grow as a result" is uncontrollable.
- Work processes: Identify flows where mistakes occur frequently and create checklists or new rules. Until you understand a subordinate's skill set, have them show you deliverables frequently, and specify the frequency and timing yourself. Once you understand, lower the frequency.
- How to conduct meetings: In organizations without a culture of writing minutes, write minutes while screen-sharing in meetings you facilitate. In meetings you don't facilitate, say sarcastically, "Oh, you don't write minutes? Everyone must have incredible memories." After doing this for two years, minutes are now written two out of three times.
- When scheduling a meeting, write what you want to talk about in a document at a "readable level," attach it to the calendar, and start with "silent reading of the document." Those dragged in probably felt it was a hassle, but comfortable meetings increased.
- Team atmosphere and culture: I could only do things like creating social gatherings. This is an area I'm very bad at. Please don't expect much improvement here in the future.
Summary
- Step 1: The purpose of self-responsibility is "to make your own thinking and actions better tomorrow than today." Nothing more, nothing less.
- Step 2: List and identify constants (uncontrollable) and variables (controllable).
- Step 3: Separate responsibility from cause. Maintain a distance like "I am not the cause, but I have the responsibility to respond as a manager."
- Step 4: Tweak only the controllable variables. There are more elements you can tweak than you think, such as how to guide subordinates and how to run meetings.
Let's go with moderate self-responsibility today.
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