There are two types of responsibility to discuss, personal and collective.
Personal responsibility
Personal responsibility is about taking ownership of your own actions. You should be responsible for doing something and equally responsible when things don’t go well. It serves us well if we live by the adage “no-one else is responsible except me. I am responsible for my successes and my failures”. At work if I have something that I need to do then I must make this happen. Taking it in the context of business growth, if you are the owner of a business and want it to grow then YOU have to make it happen. Fire-fighting, or not having good enough people or the market is not right or the competition is too stiff, and many other excuses are all just that – excuses.
In another context, your customer wants to hear you say “I will make that happen for you”. S/he also wants to hear you say “I’m very sorry, I won’t let that happen again”. Note the use of that little word “I”.
Collective responsibility
Collective responsibility is also important. I liken this to what is often referred to as “Cabinet responsibility”. I see failure in this area again and again. If you are part of a management team, (even if you are the overall boss), and that team makes a decision, then it is up to all of you to do your very best to make that decision work. This is even more true if it is a decision that you did not necessarily agree to.
Ever heard people say “I knew it wasn’t going to work and said so right at the beginning”? – Well I contend that the reason it didn’t work is because that person didn’t buy into it. Worse, it was probably under-mined by those that didn’t agree at the beginning. If everyone in your team grasps the principles of collective responsibility then you will move mountains – and your business will thrive.
If you want your business to grow, then hire a good business mentor. This really will make the difference, most particularly in helping you to see through your excuses.