The Sinking of the Titanic  - Blair McPherson

 

My experience of working in Local Government taught me a lot about the difference between accountability and responsibility and what happens when the media and politicians call for some one’s head. The management mantra is that you can delegate responsibility but not accountability. But the distinction is often lost in the heat of the outrage following a tragedy like the death of a child. The public clamour is for both the social worker and a relevant senior manager to lose their jobs. The Chief Executive and  Leader of the council who between them cut the training and staffing budget which as a result led to an inexperienced social worker managing a complex case with insufficient supervision from an over worked line manager are not considered responsible. The social worker and line manager made the mistakes. But they had boss who was suppose for ensureing they did their job competently and professionally, they must be held accountable, so the head of child protection is also thrown under the bus. 

 

As a result of this witch-hunt to find someone to blame the lessons learnt never extend to the strategic causes which are not identified or addressed. We shouldn’t be surprised tragedies keep happening despite all the guidance provided to social workers and their supervisors! 

 

This may be an extreme example of how the blame culture works but most organisations are far to quick to try and identify some one to blame rather than look beyond the individuals mistakes at the wider context which made the likelihood of mistakes greater. 

 

Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk