Who decides, who executes and who answers for the result: the architecture of processes and responsibility

A wrought-iron door beneath stone coats of arms

When tasks are allocated but responsibility is blurred, every participant can explain why someone else should have stopped the mistake.

Partners, the managing director, employees and external consultants participate in the same processes, but when a mistake occurs, responsibility begins to pass from hand to hand. More participants do not increase security. They provide more opportunities to shift blame. Resilience depends on every substantial responsibility being connected to real authority, information and control.

A process is the trail that shows who decided, who executed and who should have stopped the mistake before it became a loss. But excessive procedure also destroys responsibility: it turns people from decision-makers into forwarders.

Read the analysis (13 min) analytical text · 13 min read → hold to open, or click

My professional insights

Processes and responsibility · 13 min read