Passivity vs. Accountability

• 01 October 2024
• leadership

I have a book coming out this month (preorder here) exploring the tools through which people caught in the middle of bureaucratic systems can work together to transform their institutions. These tools can also be used by folks in leadership positions to ensure that they’re using the reach that their perch on the org chart provides in order to do good.

I am realizing this morning, however (for reasons), that though I talk a lot about communication, about honesty, about vulnerability, and about trust, one thing I never flat out say in the book is AVOID THE PASSIVE VOICE, especially in messages in which you are having to reckon with something bad. This is not just a principle of good writing: it’s a demonstration of willingness to take responsibility for the power that you hold.

You are, inevitably, going to make decisions that turn out to be bad ones. When you do, you have to own your role in those decisions and be accountable for the harm those decisions cause. Mistakes do not just get magically made without a mistake-maker.

And even when you feel -- perhaps correctly -- that the decision you made was the only one that could be made, that circumstances left you with only one option, you still need to own it. You might be able to explain, but you have to be cautious with explanations, to avoid making it appear as though you are deflecting your own responsibility. As painful as it is to be publicly accountable, you must take that accountability to your community seriously. Hand-wavy gestures that shift blame are visible to everyone, and are a significant factor in destroying trust.

You cannot lead in the passive voice. You cannot build good relationships in the passive voice. And you cannot undo damage in the passive voice. You can only deepen it.

• ← Previous
  Time Is Weird
• Next →
  Rebuilding

Webmentions

1 Reply

1. Chris Hartgerink (they/them) 02 Oct 2024 - 07:04

   @kfitz yay! Very excited for your next book to come out ???? And good thing my PhD supervisors did was get the passive voice out of my writing! Accountability ftw ???? I've gotten into epubs over the past years – do you know whether the JHU ePubs are DRM free by any chance?

1 Like

4 Reposts