Responsibility and Values
While trying to help my twenty something year old son organize himself to meet the challenges of the work world I realized that the best advice I could give him came down to two words: responsibility and values. If you doubt my “aha moment” consider the news last week about the oil spill in the Gulf. Whether you are a supporter of President Obama or not you have to admit (talk to popular radio talk show host and author Michael Smerconish about the denial of some folks) he put the pressure on BP to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the incident. The President’s intention was very clear in his speech to the American people and the actions of the Congressional Committee. He expects BP to take responsibility, pay retribution and he wants truthful answers to why the incident occurred in the first place. Could it have been a case of monetary gain over environmental safety or wreck less indifference to the consequences of overtaxing sensitive equipment? I suspect the drilling in the Gulf waters was both a business decision and a value decision.
Mary King wrote an article for careercoaching.suite101.com entitled Teenagers at Work How to Stay Employed after Being Hired for a Job. After reading the article I thought, it starts here. If we begin our work life with the understanding that work is not only a means to finance our lifestyle but it is also a reflection of our values and how we view responsibility. The following is some of the advice that King shares in her article:
- Always be on time. That means checking the work schedule daily in case any changes have been made. (RESPONSIBILTY)
- Attend to personal hygiene. No responsible adult should have to be told to shower, brush his teeth, or use deodorant. (RESPONSIBILITY)
- Never say, “It’s not my job.” Credit goes to the worker who is willing to take on a challenge and learn as much as possible about the company. (VALUE)
- An employee who consistently shows initiative, and is willing to put in a little overtime now and then to complete a task, is literally banking on the extra effort. (VALUE)
When I do training around the country I have noticed a common complaint that Mary King mentioned. I call it the “ it’s not my job syndrome”. It is not always blatant but it has become pervasive in American business. There is a disconnect between what an employee is willing to do versus what is in the job description. In a bad economy workers are asked to do much more than one job. Workers can become disgruntled but the economy will not always be in the state it is in now. What has been lost is the big picture of the task at hand and how that affects the business at large. The employee has become so focused on “I’m only doing my share and I’m not responsible for…” that both the business and the employee suffer. Remember what Ms. King said in her advice to teens about the importance of learning as much as you can about the company. When the economy turns around who will benefit? Will credit be given to the employee who went the extra mile or will a promotion be given to “it’s not my job”? Should risk takers be rewarded for going the extra mile? The relationship between responsibility and values gets cloudy right here.
However, I was encouraged to discover that Harvard Business School shares my sentiments about the influence of responsibility and values on work life. They have a program called the Community Values. Harvard goes a step further by incorporating leadership with values and ethics. The program stresses that a person is accountable for his/her actions. Personal responsibility is a mandate. The goal of the program is for members to reach the high standards of leadership by ascribing to the values of mutual respect, honesty, integrity and personal responsibility. Harvard Business School provides a program that includes alumni speakers, industry speakers, and student-lead roundtable discussions and debates on current ethical business issues.
So in the end I still maintain that the best advice I can give my son is to make sure his value system includes taking responsibility for his actions. If he follows that advice it will serve him well in life and work.
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