The BIGG Successs Show
CYA: Does It Pay?
Does it pay to blame others to cover your backside? George says "no", Mary-Lynn says "yes". What do you think? Do blame shifters win out in the end? Share your opinion, listen to the show, and read the summary here.
Welcome to the Big Success Show. Today, we'll ask the question, "Does it pay to blame others to cover your backside?" The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. Cover your backside, I'm Mary Lynn. Well, have you ever worked with a colleague or a manager who was a blame shifter? You know, they never take responsibility for anything, and that's our question today is, "Does it pay to shift the blame?" And you know what, George? I think it does. Well, and I guess that's why Mary Lynn, I always get the blame for everything. Now, wait a minute. I am not a blame shifter myself, but I certainly have worked with plenty of blame shifters. And it seems like they always get away with it. And in a lot of cases, they seem to win. Either they get promoted inside the company or they get a great job outside the company, so it seems to me that CYA does pay. CYA, it does pay, you say. Well, I say it doesn't pay in the long run. I think it catches up with you. Maybe not right now, but at some point, you're going to get caught. And, you know, I had a manager once who never accepted responsibility for anything, and I knew one of two things. Either she wasn't doing anything, that's why she didn't have any blame to accept, right? Or she was passing the buck. And ultimately, I fired her. You know, George, I wish I would have had a manager like you back when I was dealing with blame shifters, because as an employee, when you see someone getting away with it, I mean, it really does affect your morale and the team's morale. Well, and I have to admit something, Mary Lynn, I learned this lesson the hard way. One time after I had fired an employee, one of my other employees asked me, "What took you so long?" Right, because as an employee, there's not much you can do about it, other than document, document, document so that you don't get blamed for their mistakes. Well, you're right. As an employee, there's not much you can do about it, but as a leader, you do have the opportunity to create the right culture, a culture where it's okay to accept the blame. Now, a lot of times, people will shift the blame because it's just like when we were kids, they're afraid of the consequences. Well, right. And as a leader, you want to create a culture where the focus is on fixing the problem, not the blame. You know, there's an old saying, "It's amazing how much gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit." Well, I think we can apply that. It's amazing how much gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the blame. Hey, that's a new one. But it seems like in our culture today, it's just the opposite. You've got to find somebody to blame rather than worry about the problem, and that's why it pays to be a blame shifter. I remember Mary Lynn having an employee who turned out to be one of my top managers, and fairly early in his career, he was always blaming something else or somebody else, and I made it absolutely clear to him that he was going to get fired if he kept doing that. Or he could start accepting responsibility, and I thought he had great potential. It doesn't work with every employee, but for the ones you want to keep, they'll respond to that. Well, let me go back again to, I wish I would have had you in upper management when I was dealing with blame shifters, because I think too many people in upper management look the other way because they're too busy to deal with the situation. Well, and you know Mary Lynn, that may be true, but I think that's changing. Any companies are starting to get it. It's important that as a leader that you admit your mistakes, because that creates an environment where your employees will admit mistakes. Distribute the credit liberally, focus the blame conservatively, give more credit to your team, and accept more blame for yourself. Exactly, lead by example, because employees will admit their mistakes when they see that their leaders are admitting their mistakes. Absolutely, you've got to create a comfort zone, right? But for those of you who aren't in that comfort zone yet, coming up, how to be a blame shifter and get away with it. Today we're asking the question, does it pay to shift the blame to others to cover your rear end? And I'm on the side of no, it does not pay, but Mary Lynn, I will grant you this one thing. The one way I could see it working, it's not the life I would want to live, but I could see you getting away with it if you're a moving target. You're moving from job to job, from place to place, from company to company, I think then you might get away with it. Yeah, George, they do move, but they seem to keep moving up. You know, though I'd never do it, and I don't respect those who do, I still think that it does pay. Well, and here's what we want to know. For all of you out there listening, what do you think? Does CYA pay? Leave us a comment on our blog today at BigSuccess.com, that's also where you'll find a written summary of our show. And before we go, let's get our big quote for the day. Our big quote today is by the great author Oscar Wilde. Mary Lynn, it's just so hard not to say Oscar Meyer for some reason today. I don't know, anyway. You get hot dogs? I guess so. But Oscar Wilde said, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame." In the game of life, great teams experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat together, not as individuals. Next time we're going to talk about what you can learn from jugglers. Yeah, hey, if I can't do it, I'll just blame the person who taught me. Well, I'm going to blame my big balls. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] [BLANK_AUDIO]