Two-Way Street

Some work offers a lot of responsibility. Some work offers a lot of control. The best work offers both.

When you have responsibility but no control, you burn out fast. You’re accountable if everything crashes and burns, but you’re not driving. It’s exhausting.

On the other hand, when you have control but take no responsibility, you burn out everyone around you. You’re in the driver’s seat, but you keep taking your hands off the wheel. When the car veers into the shoulder, you whine and point fingers rather than steering back onto the freeway.

And what if you have neither? Then you just check out. You sit in the back seat and stare out the window.

But what happens if you have both responsibility and control? Then you can steer the damn vehicle. You can see what needs to be changed, and you can do something about it. You can correct your own mistakes when something goes wrong.

Wouldn’t we love it if everyone on our team acted this way? Well they might--if we let them. What if we trusted them enough to build systems that gave them control over their work? And what if we built a culture that they trusted enough to take responsibility for their work?

Responsibility and control: we need both. Systems that trust us and a culture we can trust: we need both. It’s always a two-way street.