Who Done It? A Team Exercise in Personal Responsibility

Description
When people do not take full responsibility, things seem to fall through the cracks in organizations and tasks do not get done. This can become a nagging issue and if not addressed develop a habit that is hard to break.

In our training program Style of Leadership and Team Development we tell the following story. People laugh as it is funny but often true. We then engage in a discussion about the cause and solutions.

Once upon a time there was a work unit with four members named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Do you hear people speaking this way when something doesn’t get done and no one takes ownership? If so it’s time to put an end to it.

I created an exercise using this story that you can conduct with your team. Download it here.