The Difference Between Responsibility and Accountability We take responsibility but are held accountable

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We use the words responsibility and accountability loosely in everyday language, but what’s the difference? We take responsibility but are held accountable. We can not make someone responsible for something; we can only hold them accountable.

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Responsibility is something we can only take upon ourselves. It is not something others can meaningfully assign to us. It involves a personal choice to step forward, to care, and to act with intention. Accountability, in contrast, comes from outside. It means being answerable or liable to someone else, such as a manager, a colleague, or an institution. While responsibility comes from within, accountability is based on external expectations.

One way to understand accountability is by taking the word at face value. To be held accountable is to be expected to give an account. If something goes wrong, we may be called on to explain what happened, what we did or did not do, and why. Accountability usually comes into play after an action has been taken or a task has been left incomplete. Responsibility, by contrast, is about personal ownership in the present. It is not about judgment. It is a position we choose to stand in.

Responsibility and accountability – an example

We can feel and assume the responsibility for the well-being of a houseplant, but not have any accountability.

If the plant dies from neglect, we have to answer to no one except ourselves. We will be responsible, but no one will chastise, punish, or reward us.

Letting it die means that we will have failed in our responsibility and let ourselves down, but we can claim responsibility if it is healthy and flowers.

On the other hand, a parent could make a child accountable for looking after the plant. If the child fails to do that, they must explain why to their parent.

We can not make someone responsible for something; we can only hold them accountable.

Responsibility and accountability in our work lives

In the workplace, we are told that we have specific responsibilities as part of our job, but, in reality, these functions are assigned to us. They are accountabilities. We do not always feel genuinely responsible or wholeheartedly committed if we are told or ordered to do something.

Don’t get me wrong — we need accountability in our work. So, for example, if a medical practitioner acts unprofessionally, we would want them to be held accountable by the appropriate professional body.

But I’d rather they felt an intrinsic responsibility more strongly than their fear of being held accountable.

Authority vs Responsibility | Seth Godin (source)

How to be held accountable for things for which we have taken responsibility

The obvious problem with responsibility is that if we have not voiced it in any way, there is no one to challenge us when we fail to live up to that responsibility. We can mentally hold ourselves accountable, but even this is not sufficient.

We need to make our responsibilities explicit by stating them publicly and avoiding an escape clause by asking others to hold us accountable. We rarely do that. We like the escape option too much.

The power to create a future requires us to choose to be accountable.

To be accountable, among other things, means you act as an owner and part creator of whatever it is that you wish to improve.

In the absence of this, you are in the position of effect, not cause ... a powerless stance.

To be accountable is to care for the well being of the whole and act as if this well being is in our hands and hearts to create.

This kind of accountability is created through the conversations we have with each other.

Credit: Peter Block

In the quotation above, Peter Block says, “This kind of accountability is created through the conversations we have with each other.” This is where the practice of Conversational Leadership comes in — intentionally shaping conversations so that, for most people, responsibility is chosen rather than imposed, and accountability is mutual rather than based on blame. It involves creating spaces where people feel safe to declare what they will take responsibility for, and where accountability grows from shared commitments rather than fear of consequences.

In an ideal world

Accountability is done to you. It’s done by the industrial system, by those that want to create blame.

Responsibility is done by you. It’s voluntary. You can take as much of it as you want.

Credit: Seth Godin

In an ideal world, I would rather see no one have accountability forced upon them, as when this accountability is reluctantly accepted, if things go wrong, they will be inclined to cover up or make excuses for their failure to avoid the attendant blame.

We need to take responsibility for what we care about and our actions. We need to make ourselves accountable to someone or some authority. That way, when things go wrong, there is no blame, only acceptance of failure.

Responsibility and accountability should go hand in hand.

Responsibility and accountability should not be about blame

Resetting Corporate Language – from Being Human | Sonja Blignaut

Not everyone sees the difference in this way

Not everyone sees the difference in this way. Here is an alternative way of looking at things. There are many other points of view.

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We take responsibility for what matters to us and make it visible. We invite others to hold us to it. Through our conversations, we agree on shared commitments and how we will account for them. Together, responsibility and accountability become tools for learning, not blame.

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